Research

Multispecies Kirpilä Art Collection is a two-year research project funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The project explores human-animal relations depicted in the artworks of the Kirpilä Art Collection.

The project is led by Postdoctoral Researcher Tiina Salmia (University of Turku). Salmia is a researcher specializing in visual culture and human-animal studies. She received her PhD in 2026 from the Department of Art History at the University of Turku.

Nonhuman animals are present in the Kirpilä Art Collection in a variety of ways. They appear, for example, as beloved companions, as inhabitants sharing urban spaces with humans, as subjects of scientific observation, as unwelcome guests within the home, and as elements of the visual worlds depicted in landscape paintings.

The project investigates questions such as:

• From what perspectives are animals viewed in the artworks? Is the gaze, for example, scientific, entertainment‑oriented, or aesthetic?
• What kinds of boundaries are drawn between humans and animals, nature and culture, and inside and outside?
• How do the artworks negotiate relations between humans, animals, and the environment, and within what power structures do these negotiations take place?

In addition to producing scholarly articles, the project will make its research findings accessible through science and art education workshops for children, public lectures, and an audio guide.

Jussi Mäntynen, Bear, 1926. Photo: Rauno Träskelin. Kirpilä Art Collection / Finnish Cultural Foundation.