Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts 2013

Area of Work:  Contemporary arts

Date:  02 October 2013

Place of Ceremony: Nanyang Auditorium

Host Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Host Country: Singapore

Singapore, Singapore. October 2013. Prof. Petteri Nisunen, and his colleague Tommi Grönlund have been selected as the winners of the 2013 Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts for their interdisciplinary approach, inspiring innovation, creativity and their particular view of synthesis.

Their interdisciplinary approach brings together art, design, architecture and science. Their large-scale spatial interventions and public as well as gallery installations involve a variety of materials and technologies, from the use of objects to light and sound. Nisunen and Grönlund deal with space, be it physical, ethereal or sonic. Works tend to change or reshape space and stimulate sensory perception through direct intervention, often with complex technical installations. The artists are not committed to one medium only, but are endlessly curious, capable of moving between disciplines and changing approaches.

In addition to his artistic work, Nisunen teaches in the Art Department of Aalto University. He invites fellow artists from around the world to share their experience and knowledge in lectures and workshops. Nisunen has a background in architecture and combines artists’ hands-on experience with art history and theory. Nisunen and Grönlund have also curated exhibitions, for example at the Nordic Pavilion in the 2001 Venice Biennial. They often work in conjunction with other artists, musicians and different professionals, such as scientists or engineers. They have a long list of public commissions and have exhibited in several major venues around the world.

The works, often with a poetic quality, leave open space for the audience’s experience. They are not so much a matter of objects, but rather about grasping something invisible in the world that surrounds us.