Ateneum Art Museum

Both East and West have influenced Helsinki.  Former Soviet inspired monumental buildings, sculpture and artwork is typical of the capital, but Finland is also home of Nokia, Marimekko and an enormous forest industry.  This ambivalence is represented at the Ateneum Art Museum with collections representing all Finnish art epochs from rococo to realism, from symbolism to early twentieth-century modernist movements.  Included in the 20,000 pieces of art, are also works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, and Auguste Rodin purchased with government funding.  

It’s not stated on the website, yet one clearly gets the impression that Ateneum Art Museum is housed in a monumental building with a wide variety of art that recognizes Finland’s geographical and political position.   

User-friendliness
This is a website with a no-nonsense menu structure.  The top bar has six clear titles: collections, exhibitions, workshop, Ateneum Hall, About Ateneum, and Contact.  Each of the titles has a drop down menu at the top and an equivalent on the left side.  Not very adventurous perhaps, but it works.  Loads of information is swiftly found.    Under opening hours there is even a link with exceptional opening hours.

Navigation
As described above it’s easy to navigate.  One thing I did notice is that the left menu sometimes omits certain links leaving a white block where there should have been links.

There is no search engine, nor a print feature.  Both would be desirable on a website of this standard and size.  I would like to be able to print some of the more academic articles easily and enjoy indulging in them on a flight to Helsinki – or on the couch at home.  The language choices are Finnish, Swedish and English.

Content
The content is of high quality with the basics up-front, and if you want more it’s there.  A superb feature is the Ateneum guide.  Basically this is a book on the web that in detail describes Finnish art from its beginnings up to today – everything is linked together – and you can easily find your way back to Ateneum. 

Updating
Generally good.  I did notice that the Programme Calendar of the Ateneum Hall wasn’t listed March 22, instead the following announcement: “Spring 2007 programme to be announced shortly" was posted.  Upon entering the site there is a teaser about a "Creature Club" 2-20 March, which is overdue.   But if you are interested in renting the Hall you can find the floor plan, lighting plan, sound equipment, contact information, - there is even an Ateneum Hall Design with specially designed pillows, t-shirt, baby’s bib (and diaper bag which is misspelled ‘diperbag’) and other memorabilia.  The Finns at Ateneum are obviously quite  industrious.

Aesthetics
I am afraid the dour colours and conservative design isn’t my cup of tea.  On the other hand I find what I need – and more.  A professional group of designers and computer specialists has developed the website, no doubt about that, and the design is consistent – each subject has its own colour on the menu that is accordingly toned down in the top picture.  

Creativity
There are creative elements, but not in a particularly technical way.  There are no moving images or other disturbances. 

A novel idea is five children’s expeditions based on Marjatta Levanto's book Tunnetko.  There is a link to this feature, but all you meet is the five themes: solitude, joy, sorrow, companionship, and compassion accompanied with an animal.  A few more words on how the expeditions work, age groups they are intended for, and some pictures of children participating in them are lacking.  The idea is good; it just needs a bit more work.  

Another great idea that works on both the website and at the exhibitions is the Polyphonic Ateneum.  Basically the museum asked well-known people from different fields for an interpretation / viewpoint on a favourite work of art currently on view at Ateneum. On the web you are introduced to the famous person, his favourite picture and an interview.  At the exhibition a lime green (that’s what it says) colour-coded text is displayed alongside each particular work.  Once again the feature needs a minor upgrade, as the links on the left only include the interview, but not the favourite painting.  This is an easy-to-copy idea for other museums.  Here is an example: Professor of Fiscal Law Kari S. Tikka has chosen a work by Magnus Enckell: Listeners of Music from 1897.  Enckell says: “A group of men enjoying art together. An unconventional image of the Finnish man who is more likely a hero or a wage slave, solemn and often morose. Magnus Enckell showed in his work that a man can be hedonistic, narcissistic, beautiful, dreamy, and even an object of desire. The men in this painting are not from the woods or the lands of folk poetry, but from the festival hall of the university. They are living in a world of music, in which Finland was and still is larger than its size might suggest...”  

Ateneum Art Museum has a superb website.  A minor editorial and technical workover could make it excellent.  

Service-minded museum
The museum services children, students, visually and hearing impaired, disabled, and all others in collaboration with corporations.  If you’re thirsty for coffee or hungry for books or want to become a ‘friend’ of Ateneum, it’s possible at Ateneum.  Or do you want to become deeply absorbed in a certain period of Finnish art at home or live?  This is also provided for.  The museum has even opened its door to a professor, a doctor, a play writer, and a rap artist.  Art isn’t only for the experts, art does something to us – art historians are gold mines of knowledge. They can give us a deeper understanding.  I like this balance of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, each of them having something to offer.

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Related Information
Ateneum Art Museum, Finland, www.ateneum.fi/default.asp?docId=11876