João Laia Named Chief Curator at Finland’s Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma -ARTnews

João Laia has been appointed as chief curator of Helsinki’s Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, which is part of the Finnish National Gallery. Laia takes up the post on June 3, succeeding Marja Sakari, who will be the next director of the Ateneum Art Museum in the Finnish capital.

In his new role, Laia will work with Leevi Haapala, Kiasma’s director, to plan exhibition programming, including the upcoming ARS22 show at the museum. Laia has previously curated exhibitions at Lisbon City Hall Gallery in Portugal, La Casa Encendida in Madrid, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and elsewhere, and has contributed to publications such as Frieze and Mousse. In 2014, he participated in the curatorial residency program at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin.

In a statement, Laia said, “As part of the museum’s team, I look forward to present challenging, experimental and poetic work to engage the eclectic range of audiences that make the wide local, regional and international constituencies of the institution by addressing key social debates defining our present and near future.”