Aalto University is a newly created university resulting from the merger of three Finnish universities the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Art and Design and the Helsinki University of Technology – all leading and renowned institutions in their respective fields and in their own right. Aalto University will begin operating in January 2010, and open up a new world of possibilities for multidisciplinary education and research.

Recently Aalto University got its identity, selected after competition, and winning bid triggered a fierce discussion among members of pingstate.nu, a local forum of graphic designers. Unfortunately this site is in Finnish, so maybe translate.google.com will do a trick.

Here the link to the original identity file.

A collection of photographs, paintings, videos and mixed media, this exhibition will celebrate the works of nine provocative contemporary artists (four American, five Norwegian) all of whom are American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) Fellowship recipients: Eric Aho, Marion Belanger, Lene Berg, Sandra Binion, Kjell Bjørgeengen, Ole Martin Lund Bø, Unn Fahlstrøm, Nina Katchadourian and Are Mokkelbost.

http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/

From the makers of DESIGN 21, a new online design competition and marketplace called Social Designer

Social Designer strives to spark new thinking about the issues that matter most by encouraging the design community to create fun, socially-relevant graphics for tees, totes and other goods. We do this by holding design competitions to create products that support meaningful causes – all winning designs will be available here – and by selling goods with social or environmental value.

VOTE NOW For your favorite t-shirt design in our Animal Crackers competition. Voting closes Tuesday April 21.

CALL FOR ENTRIES For our Peace Out competition – enter to win $2000 and your design made into a tee or tote! Entries close Monday April 20.

Click here for details! www.socialdesigner.com

Pleasing the eye, challenging the mind, celebrating form and function. This year, Helsinki Design Week brings light to the city both metaphorically and in practice. The theme of this year – light – is visible in installations brightening urban spaces, as well as a creative light bringing people together. The 12-day Week comprises of a wide array of happenings in the Cable Factory and in other central and inspiring venues.

Helsinki Design Week is an annual festival of creativity – a forum for professionals, a cultural experience for city-dwellers and visitors. A place for encounters, aesthetics and inspiration. Helsinki Design Week offers exhibitions, seminars, workshops, fashion shows, installations, shopping opportunities, open-door visits to studios and closed-for-public spaces, as well as mingling by night.

Link: http://www.helsinkidesignweek.com

Now take a break from design and return to life in Nordic Countries, to be correct, in one of them – Finland.

When I opened up my RSS reader and checked the Finland for thought feed, I don’t believed my eyes and sat down stagnated a while. My first impression was scaring, judge itself:

Helsinki and Vantaa police spot-checking foreigners without residence permit
Inspections in shopping malls and stations

The Helsinki and Vantaa police departments have stepped up the inspections of foreigners’ residence permits. Police officers are making spot checks in places where foreigners typically gather, including shopping malls, railway stations, and harbours.

In Vantaa, spot checks have been made in the shopping centres of Myyrmanni and Jumbo, among others. In Espoo, random inspections are not worthwhile, as the number of targets would be comparatively low, says Chief Inspector Aaro Väätäinen.

Anyone looking or sounding foreign can be chosen as the target of spot checks. ”A foreigner is always obliged to explain why he or she is in Finland. However, they do not have to carry all relevant documents with them all the time, as the facts can be checked through a computer network” reports Chief Inspector Jouko Aromäki from the Vantaa police. ”At some point we will certainly have a meeting involving the police, the Customs, and the Border Guard in order to discuss how the authorities are to cooperate in the matter”, notes Jaakko Heinilä, the head of the Investigation Unit at the Helsinki Immigration Police. ”The point of these checks is to maintain order and security in public places, with a view to the wellbeing of all citizens and residents of this country”, stresses Heinilä.

Here is important point of this publication that giving the whole story more bad smelling twist:

Typically, a foreigner without a residence permit comes from Africa or from the Middle East. Unable to present any identity card, he or she has come into Finland through another Schengen country, without facing border immigration control formalities.

Obviously, these checks will be focused mainly on non-caucasian race persons.

Read the whole article on Helsingin Sanomat:

There is a big discussion on Finland for thought blog, evoking many different points of view.

Ombudsman of Minorities Johanna Suurpää already addressed some concern about this issue on the pages of Helsingin Sanomat.

I am personally, started to think where can I buy a special purse to carry my ID…

About the photo used in this article:

Who’s there?

I sometimes feel like someone’s watching me. Seriously though, this statue is called ‘Daybreak’ and it was made by one of Finlands most prominent sculpters – Wäinö Aaltonen. It stands in front of the Bank of Finland Security Printing House, Rauhankatu 19, Kruununhaka. That’s why the security camera is there.

Uploaded by Kikeb to Nordic Design Photo pool on 26 Feb 07, 10.36PM EET.

University of Art and Design Helsinki recently announced their new MA degree programme:

We are glad to announce the call for applications to our new MA degree programme, Sound in New Media. The 2-year programme is targeted to students who have completed their BA, BSc or similar degree (eg. in Polytechnic/ Applied Science) in sound design or music, or have gained basic sound design skills on the side of their studies through other kind of activities.

Today’s digital products and services – as well as new forms of art and culture – have created a need of new kind of education in various disciplines, also in sound design. Designing sounds and composing music for games, mobile applications, online media, interactive art and virtual environments requires expertise which can be best obtained through domain-specific and yet multi-disciplinary education.

This unique MA programme in new media sound combines art, design and media driven aspects of sound design in the digital era, covering a wide range of disciplines from concept design to live performance and from storytelling to programming. In addition to professors and teachers of the partner universities, teaching resources are extended through our wide international networks in the field.

The application instructions are online at http://mlab.taik.fi/studies/application/#new

CopyFraud: Ministry of culture funds propaganda

Herkko Hietanen from CopyFraud wrote article about comic book issued by Ministry of culture of Finland:

First the ministry of culture drafts an awful copyright law that even their specialists can’t interpret. Then they outsourced the PR and education to the hands of Finnish anti-piracy people. These people have produced a comic full of accusation and moral ethos with little facts. The script of the book was written by one of the most active copyright lobbyist in Finland. The comic book along with some slides is being distributed to school teachers to use to educate teens.

Read the whole story on CopyFraud:

The mission of NO!SPEC is to educate both clients and Visual Communication designers (also known as ‘graphic’ designers) about the nature of speculative, or “spec” work.

It also serves as a vehicle to unite designers who support the notion that spec work devalues the potential of design and ultimately does a disservice to the client.

read more | digg story

If you’ve got the vision and the skills to create a tour-de-force ad for Firefox, we’re offering you the opportunity to get noticed by an accomplished panel of Hollywood and advertising pros. And the chance to be included in the global marketing campaign for Firefox 1.5.

Get all the details here: http://firefoxflicks.com (more…)

++ Symposium (Papers, Posters, Artist Sessions)
Due: EXTENDED TO January 30, 2006
++ Workshops
Due: January 31, 2006

Workshops

This is an invitation by the ISEA2006 Symposium and ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge to groups and individuals to submit proposals for part-day and full-day hands-on workshops, during ISEA2006/ZeroOne San Jose. August 7-8, 2006.

(more…)