AYY’s art collection exhibition Scattered on display at the Museum of Student Life

Through an open call, six new artworks were added to AYY’s art collection at the end of 2025: Painolasti (Simo Sahlman 2025), Loading… (Lilya Lagerbohm 2025), Museopölyä and Aaltopölyä (Sofia Hakala 2025), Introspektio #2 (Karun Verma 2023), and Tuki II (Jesper Dolgov 2025). 
 
The art collection is on display at the Museum of Student Life in the exhibition titled Scattered this spring. At the same time, the 65-year history of student association TOKYO is being celebrated at the museum. In the exhibition, earlier works in the collection are brought into dialogue with the new acquisitions. The selected theme, Scattered, reflects both creative thinking and scatteredness. 
 
‘We are more connected with each other than ever before, and we can communicate with anyone from anywhere in the world. At the same time, the constant stream of news about global crises can overwhelm us. Reality is full of opportunities and uncertainties, which can leave us feeling truly scattered across time and space’, describes Museum Director Anna Merikari. 
 
The exhibition works offer a diverse, cross-cutting view of Aalto University students’ artworks and the contemporary art field. The works differ from one another in terms of materials and techniques – the exhibition includes linocuts, an artist’s book, photography, and a gelatin silver print, among others. 
 
One of the most surprising material choices is dust that Sofia Hakala has collected from the Architecture Museum and Aalto University facilities for her works Museopölyä (Museum Dust) and Aaltopölyä (Aalto Dust). 
 
‘The dust carries within it the lives lived and the memories of each place. When displayed, it becomes humanised in all its grey everydayness. Suddenly, dust collected from a familiar space is revealed as a material expression of time and place. To capture the temporal character of different places, I have developed an artistic method for processing dust’, says Hakala. 
 
AYY’s art collection exhibition Scattered and TOKYO’s 65th anniversary exhibition are on display at the Museum of Student Life (Jämeräntaival 3, free admission) this spring.