News
| 14.06.2019

Art Makes Hanken Students Think in New Ways

What do tangled reinforcement bars, Hanken's 110 years and the new fundraising campaign have in common? A lot, says rector Karen Spens.

Hanken turns 110 years this year and the art exhibition Nordic Contemporary Art Collection is a part of the anniversary festivities, which hold the theme of creativity. Thirteen pieces are exhibited.

“One of Hanken’s roles is to create the entrepreneurial atmosphere needed for creativity – and we will be outside our comfort zone”, says Rector Karen Spens.

Spens hopes that the art exhibit will inspire questions and open discussions amongst students and staff.

“The traditional image of a business school is something to consider. What is our role in society? We can be the place where you think a little differently”.
 

Camilla Wardi and Karen Spens in front of Alfred Boman's painting Untitled (2014).jpg
Camilla Wardi and Karen Spens in front of Alfred Boman's painting Untitled (2014).

The exhibition opened 21 May in connection with a donor evening. The evening was simultaneously the launch for the new fundraising campaign Hanken 110, with creativity as its theme. Camilla Wardi, Head of Corporate Relations and Outreach, says that it’s natural to link the campaign to the anniversary year.

“There is certainly a need for investing in creativity and creative learning. The school must modernise its learning environment, we need new educational tools and new data bases for research”, says Wardi.

Karen Spens points out that if Hanken wants to be a modern business school, state funding is not enough.

“The donations are the gold lining of our existence. Staying with today’s fast developing world is expensive and the donated funds make investments such as Hanken Business Lab possible”, she says.

Among other things, Hanken is currently raising funds for Quantum, a centre for finance, accounting and governance. Quantum, with its creative lecture spaces, will be close to the restaurant at the heart of Hanken.

 

Verket Loppis (2013) av Pauliina Pietilä är en del av NoCo-samlingen..jpg

    NoCo at Hanken

  • Nordic Contemporary Art Collection exhibition is at Hanken until February 2020.
  • A total of 13 artworks are exhbited.
  • The artists are young people from the Nordic countries.
  • The collection has no permanent address.
  • Director for NoCo is Göran Christenson.

 
The painting Loppis (2013) by Pauliina Pietilä is a part of the  NoCo collection.
  

TEXT: LINA LAURENT | PHOTO: NIKLAS GERKMAN

This is a shortened translation of an article from the Hanken Magazine 2/2019. Read the article in Swedish here. You can read the magazine online here (mostly in Swedish).