Aala Nyman selected as FIDA Artist in Residency 2026
Aala Nyman. Photo: Soko Hwang
We are delighted to announce that visual artist Aala Nyman has been selected as the FIDA Artist in Residency 2026. Aala Nyman (FI, b. 1996) is based in Helsinki and graduated with a Master's degree in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki in 2025.
Aala Nyman (b. 1996) is a Helsinki-based artist whose work emphasises the temporality and accidental nature of everyday objects and materials. Her practice spans sculpture, ceramics, photography, textiles, and installation. She works with both found and acquired materials, such as leftover and surplus materials, clothing, and other modest everyday objects. Nyman's work is based on a process of discovery, where things find their form through gathering, observing and altering. Nyman graduated with a Master's degree in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki in 2025.
The FIDA jury motivated their choice of the artist with the following statement:
Aala Nyman has a promising and materially sensitive practice, and her motivation persuasive in relation to the residency framework. She seems genuinely ready to benefit from curatorial support, new professional connections, and access to a different working environment. She is early in her development, but that is also part of her strength here: the residency could have a meaningful impact on the next stage of her practice. Her work is excellent and has a little bit of magic to it.
Scoop and scatter, 2025 –– 1. Sitten run, 2026. Photos by Aala Nyman.
The FIDA residency program was established in 2019 as a collaboration between the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark and FABRIKKEN for Kunst og Design. Aala Nyman is the eighth 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 her residency, Nyman will also 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.