Lassi Kontiainen selected as FIDA Artist in Residence 2025
Lassi Kontiainen. Photo: Petri Summanen
It is with great pleasure tha we can announce that visual artist Lassi Kontiainen has been selected as the FIDA Artist in Residence 2025. Lassi Kontiainen (FI, b. 1999) is based in Helsinki and is currently finishing his MFA studies at the University of Fine Arts Helsinki.
The FIDA jury motivated their choice of artist with the following statement:
Visual artist Lassi Kontiainen (b. 1999) works and lives in Helsinki, Finland. Kontiainen works with painting, layering his oil paints and transparent glazes thinly and allowing for his original plan to dissolve in the process to increase the agency of the painting itself. His works are often icon-like, not only in size, but also due to their technique and quality, making them seem almost lit from within. Although vague traces of figuration are present, the overall impression is closer to abstraction. Kontiainen is drawn to religious themes but avoids unidirectionality by insisting on a more inclusive and contemplative spirituality of body and mind.
The FIDA jury finds that FABRIKKEN and Copenhagen would be a productive context for the development of Kontiainen’s practice, and that the institution and the art scene will provide an apt framework for a young artist looking to expand network and opportunities.
Lassi Kontiainen, Uskollinen ystävä / A faithful friend, 23 x 30 cm, oil on linen, 2025
Lassi Kontiainen, Portti / Gate, 23 x 30 cm, oil on cotton, 2025
The FIDA residency program was established in 2019 as a collaboration between the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark and FABRIKKEN for Kunst og Design. Kontiainen is the seventh artist to be selected for the two-month program in Copenhagen.
FIDA is the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark’s residency programme for visual artists. The purpose of the programme is to accelerate the resident’s career by offering active curatorial support, by building networks between professional artists on the contemporary Finnish and Danish art scenes, and by introducing the resident to a Danish art market. During his residency, Kontiainen will receive active curatorial support.
FIDA is funded by the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark, which offers Finnish know-how and facilitates cultural exchange in contemporary and performing arts, with the aim of developing and strengthening the dialogue between professional artists and institutions from Finland and Denmark and to the general public.