Projects
Praxis of Social Imaginaries – a Theo-artistic Intervention for Transdisciplinary Knowledge
This project was piloted in collaboration with the Nordic Summer University study circle The Praxis of Social Imaginaries. Cosmologies, Othering and Liminality, which Hellsten co-hosts together with historian and dance researcher Lindsey Drury (PhD, Freie Universität Berlin/ University of Kent) from 2023 to July 2025. From the autumn of 2024, the project will work more closely together with the new Centre of Excellence: Sustainable Ocean Sciences (SOS) at Åbo Akademi Foundation, and create yearly independent transdisciplinary symposia. The symposia created by the project also function as a course on masters and doctoral level, that can be taken by students from any field of study interested in transdisciplinary learning.
Read more about the Praxis of Social Imaginary project and how you can join our events here.
Avtryck i det Okända – Forcing the Impossible
Avtryck i det Okända var ett mångvetenskapligt- och konstnärligt forskningsprojekt vid ÅA mellan åren 2020-2022. Projektet förde samman spetsforskningsenheter vid Stiftelsen Åbo Akademi och samtliga forskningsprofiler vid Åbo Akademi med ett urval konstnärer. Forskare fick öva sig i att prata om sin forskning utanför vetenskapsgemenskapen. Konstnärerna illustrerade och tolkade det de hörde med hjälp sina respektive medier. Projektet lade grunden för Praxis of Social Imaginaries och dess arkiv finns här.
Forcing the Impossible was a multidisciplinary research project combining science and art. Within the frames of the project, cutting-edge research(ers) at Åbo Akademi University met different artists. The scientists got to practice communicating about their research outside the scientific community. The artists got to interpret and illustrate what they heard, using their respective media.
The majority of the scientific-artistic collaborations were presented during Forskarnatten, the European Researchers’ Night event, which took place in the Turku cathedral and also at Lilla Fabbes and the Sibeliusmusem on September 24, 2021.
In these upcoming publications, you will be able to read about the project:
Hellsten et al. (2025)`Taide kohtaa tieteen – Forcing the Impossible -hanke ja tieteen yhteiskunnallinen vaikuttavuus´ in Taide tietämisen tapana. Toisin tutkiminen ja julkaiseminen, Tuulikki Kurki, Tuija Saresma, Jari Martikainen, Saara Jäntti ja Sari Pöyhönen (toim.): Nykykulttuurin tutkimuskeskuksen julkaisuja 137, Nykykulttuuri 2025.