For teachers
For teachers
Dear teacher/instructor! Looking for services for your group? Here you can find information on our guided tours, exercises for independent visits, and details on art workshops for deepening the exhibition experience.
Welcome to Amos Rex!
You can use the form below to subscribe to our mailing list for schools, so you’ll be among the first to know about programmes designed for schools and informational events for teachers. The newsletter is in Finnish.
P.S. We want to make Amos Rex a great place for school groups to visit, to create memorable experiences for pupils and support teachers in their work. We welcome all feedback – please send it to us via email at museum@amosrex.fi Thank you! <3
I feel, for now
27 March – 8 Sept 2024
Art moves us, or not, in ways that we ourselves do not always quite understand, let alone knowing how to put them into words. I feel, for now is Amos Rex’s first exhibition of works from its own collections on this scale, and takes us through the art into emotions. The more than a hundred artworks chosen for the exhibition carry us from isolation to empathy, from ecstasy to nostalgia.
The art collection managed by Föreningen Konstsamfundet comprises more than 6000 works. It is based on the body of some 400 artworks accumulated by the businessman, newspaper publisher and patron of the arts Amos Anderson (1878–1961). His home museum, Amos Andersons Hem – opened on Yrjönkatu Street, Helsinki, in spring 2023 – and Söderlångvik Museum on Kimito Island both house permanent displays of mostly older works from the collection.
The large, wide-ranging exhibition I feel, for now, will show works from the collection made by more than 70 artists from the 1960s up to the present. It includes the commissioned participatory work by the international artists collective Keiken. This is the first in Amos Rex’s series of artworks that make innovative use of technology while subjecting it to critical reflection.
The exhibition is curated by Katariina Timonen, Kai Kartio, Kaj Martin and Krista Mamia.
The I feel, for now collection exhibition is at Amos Rex 27 March – 8 September 2024.
Josefina Nelimarkka: The Cloud of Un/Knowing
27.3–8.9.2024
Josefina Nelimarkka’s (b. 1982) The Cloud of Un/knowing studio exhibition lifts our gaze high. Nelimarkka studies clouds and their nature as part of the Earth’s water cycle. The show features works that change in an instant and technology driven by climate data – the artworks react to the weather outside!
The curator of the exhibition is Anastasia Isakova.
Studio Rex
In late spring 2024, the art workshop space Studio Rex hosts an exhibition by Josefina Nelimarkka.
Activities and tasks
Actvities and tasks
Here you can find some varied tasks and activities you can do either before or during your visit.
Before your visit
Amos Rex’s collections include many works with titles like artworks in themselves. Especially in contemporary art, an artwork’s title does not always directly tell us what it depicts, but it can hint at an angle from which to view the work (think of the titles of films or pieces of music). In this task, each pupil selects the title of a work in the collections from the list below and makes a new interpretation of it. The teacher can decide on the medium or pupils can be free to choose (for example, a painting, text, soundtrack, or performance – the work’s original medium is irrelevant).
- Evil Bun Avenger
- I feel, for now
- Petri is Jealous
- Horse no. 3
- Portrait of Amos Anderson
- Pacifier
- Curious
- Red
- Land Crying: Sea!
- Go bananas
- The Failed Focus of the Northern Sausage Philosopher
- Carrot Purée at Four Thirty
- Darkness Over Pasila
- Multicosmos
When you visit the exhibition, you can view the original works and see how they differ from your own versions. What do they have in common? Why do you think the artist gave the work its particular title?
The museum’s discussion guides can help you find the artworks on the spot!
On site
There is a lot of talk about the feelings and thoughts that art brings out, but sometimes art can make you feel nothing at all.
During your visit, find a work that at first glance makes you want to just pass it by. You may find it boring or even a little annoying. Spend a minute in silence studying the work as carefully as you can: all the details, the colours, the shapes. Don’t take your eyes off it for a whole minute.
For the next minute, close your eyes and try to remember everything you saw. Spend a whole minute on this, even if you can’t think of any more to add.
Did you have any new thoughts about the work? – What were they?
(The task is not a failure even if the artwork is still as boring as ever.)
On site / after the visit
In this pair assignment, both of you choose a work of art to view face to face. One of you starts off: Imagine you were there in the artist’s studio when they were making the work. Report back to your partner. What did the process look like? What stages did the work involve, what tools did the artist use, where did they get their materials, etc.? And how did the artist feel? Use your imagination freely.
Next, repeat the assignment but with the other partner giving a similar report on their chosen artwork.
If you are not sure what the medium is on the artwork’s label, ask your teacher or a discussion guide on the spot.
After your visit
This assignment can be done in small groups, pairs, or individually.
First, decide on a route or time limit (for example, 15 minutes to go right round the school) and go for a walk. While walking, collect things, either by taking photos or by picking up small objects that attract your interest. These can be, for example, a nicely shaped stone or a picture of a crack in a building window.
When you return to your class, take stock of your assembled items. You now have a collection! What does it tell you? Why these particular objects, and do they have anything in common? If a museum was to be set up to house them, what would it look like?
On the spot /after your visit
You can try out the new Amos Rex card game at two different points in the I Feel, for now exhibition. If you can’t find the benches with the cards, ask a member of staff! The card game works with any exhibition and teachers get 15% discount with an OAJ teachers’ union card.
Breathe – You Know
comic book
In spring 2024, Amos Rex is publishing a comic book for teens (12+), in collaboration with the Finnish Literature Society (SKS Kirjat). It tells the story of two 14-year-olds’ attempt to find their friend’s artwork, and survive, in a strange museum. The book is illustrated by Ulla Donner and can be used in art education. Teachers get 15% discount on the book in the museum shop with their OAJ union card.
Off to Amos Rex online shop:
For Groups
Museum rules
These rules exist so that both the artworks and the visitors can enjoy the museum. The mission of art museums is to present valuable artworks to the delight of people in a way that ensures their survival for the future too!
- No drinks, backpacks or large bags are allowed in the exhibition space.
Even just a single spilled drop of fluid can ruin an artwork. Large bags and backpacks, on the other hand, can scratch the works if in contact with them by accident. - Please take photos, but without flash.
The works are sensitive to light, and for example drawings and paintings fade in the light. - Works should not be touched unless otherwise mentioned.
They may be damaged or become dirty, or move away from their original position. - Please consider other groups during your visit.
If you are visiting without a guide, please make space for guided groups in the exhibition space. - The teacher is responsible for the group during the visit.
Remember also
- A few lockers have an outlet for charging cell phones.
- Unfortunately, the museum does not have a separate space for eating snacks. If the weather permits, we recommend a snack break on the domes of the museum courtyard! There are also cafés next to the museum.
