Universitetet i Agder

Heidi Marjaana Kukkonen

Visiting Lecturer

Office:: G3042 ( Universitetsveien 25, Kristiansand )

PhD Research fellow at the University of Agder, Department of Visual Arts and Drama (2019-2023). Doctoral thesis defence August 29, 2023 with the thesis Material–relational abstraction: Museum educational situations with abstract art.

I come from Finland, and I have a master’s degree in art history (major) and museum studies (minor) from the University of Turku, Finland. I have worked many years as a museum educator in Finland on the side and as part of my studies.

In my Ph.D. thesis, I explore how museum educational situations with abstract art can be created and understood in light of new materialist philosophy. When I worked as a museum educator with conventional dialogue-based practices in her country of origin, Finland, I heard many times from the visitors that abstract art was difficult to understand. In the thesis, I have looked for alternative practices to mediate abstract modernist art in a museum space. New materialist theories challenge the hegemony of language, human-centeredness, and representational logic, bringing the focus on learning that happens between bodies and matter in a sociomaterial world. The dissertation consists of four articles and a meta-analysis.

I spent the autumn semester 2021 at Goldsmiths, University of London, as a visiting PhD candidate, participating in the "Arts Learning and Practice" PhD programme.

Academic interests

Deleuzean methodologies

New materialisms

Post Qualitative Inquiry

A/r/tography

Modernisms

Art and social relations

Abstraction

Abstract art

Museum education

Curating

Selected publications

Kukkonen, H. (2024). "A Thousand Concepts and the Participating Body: Concept Play Workshops at Kunsthall 3,14." Humanities 13 (1): 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/h13010011

Kukkonen, H. (2023). Material–relational abstraction: Museum educational situations with abstract art [PhD Thesis]. University of Agder. https://uia.brage.unit.no/uia-xmlui/handle/11250/3083034

Kukkonen, H. (2022). “‘Can I go into the artwork?’ Material–relational situations with abstract art.” Journal for Research in Arts and Sports Education 6 (3): 76–95. https://doi.org/10.23865/jased.v6.3554

Kukkonen, H. (2022). “Abstraction in Action: Post-Qualitative Inquiry as an Approach to Curating.” In Skregelid, L. & Knudsen, K. (Ed.), Kunstens betydning. Utvidede perspektiver på kunst for, av og med barn og unge [Meanings of Art. Perspectives to art for, by and with children and young people]. Cappelen Damm Akademisk.

Kukkonen, H. (forthcoming). “The Virtual of Abstract Art. Museum Educational Encounters with Concrete Abstraction” in Sinner, A., Boyd, T., White, B., (Eds.), Artful Xchanges. Propositions for Museum Education. Intellect.

Elmies-Vestergren, A., & Kukkonen, H. (forthcoming). Playful Assemblage – Walking into Failures in the Digital Space. In Lee, N., Ursino, J., Mosavarzadeh, M., & Irwin, R., (Eds.) Walking Matters: Material and Digital A/r/tographic Explorations. Studies in Art-Based Educational Research. Springer.

Lehto-Vahtera, Johanna (Ed.), Holkeri, Eeva; Kukkonen, Heidi; Mäki, Ilona (Co-Editors). (2018). Kokoelmien avaimet. Museokokoelmien tunnisteobjekteja. Museoiden tallennus- ja kokoelmaverkosto TAKO / Poolin 6 hanke Kokoelmien avaimet 2013-2014. Turku: Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum. https://www.aboavetusarsnova.fi/files/tiedostot/kokoelmien_avaimet.pdf

Kukkonen, H. (2017). Uncannyt oksymoronit subliimin lähteinä. Stéphane Thidet’n tuotannon tarkastelua. [Uncanny Oxymorons as the Sources of Sublime. Viewing Stéphane Thidet’s Art.] Master’s thesis. University of Turku, Department of Art History, School of History, Culture and Art Studies.

Kukkonen, H. (2017). ”Hammer and Medal. The Two Sides of an Artist’s Life in the Wäinö Aaltonen Item Collection.” In Ovaska, E., Aurekoski-Turjas, M., Kormano, R., (Eds.), Wäinö Aaltonen: Poseerauksia. Transl. Grano Oy / Multidoc. Museum Centre of Turku, pp 71-73.

Scientific publications

Kukkonen, Heidi Marjaana; Skregelid, Lisbet (2024). Når kunsten leder an – Konkret kunst og abstrakte kunstmøter. Kunstfagdidaktikk - som kunstnerisk, forskende og oppmerksom undervisningspraksis. ISBN: 9788215065953. Universitetsforlaget. 12.
Kukkonen, Heidi Marjaana (2022). “Can I go into the Artwork?” Material–relational situations with abstract art. Journal for Research in Arts and Sports Education. ISSN: 2535-2857. 6 (3). s 76 - 95. doi:10.23865/jased.v6.3554.

Sectors

Last changed: 14.04.2024 22:04