Index
00.
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
Information
What Should Finland Know About Nation Branding?
Loom of Reality
Concept Store: Consumer Culture as a Medium
Owen
Jäbät & Tunteet
Sexmane

 © Aarni Kapanen 2025

00.Aarni Kapanen is a designer working at the intersection of strategic design and critical art. His practice focuses on how systems of ownership, identity, and value are constructed—often through shared cultural and visual norms. With a specialization in place and nation branding, Kapanen draws from his research-led thesis on Finland’s state brand to explore how nations communicate identity, purpose, and soft power through design. His work spans from speculative concepts to real-world strategy, often blending media art, visual communication, and narrative tools.

Before beginning any design project, it’s essential to ask: Why does this matter—and how will it stand the test of time?

Awards

• COMBINE24: Remix the Archive
  Main Prize & Audience Favourite (with Ilmo Kapanen)
  Finnish National Gallery, 2024
  
• Vuoden Huiput – Silver Prize
  Grafia, 2020

Exhibitions

• Body–Text–Space
  Luonnos Gallery, Helsinki
  23 February – 24 March 2024
  
• Combine24: Remix the Archive
  Finnish National Gallery
  20 September – 26 November 2024, Teollisuuskatu 9, Helsinki
  9 May – 21 June 2025, Dunkunsthalle, 64 Fulton St, New York City
  
• Concept Store – Consumer Culture as a Medium
  Luonnos, Uudenmaankatu 13, Helsinki
  15 August – 14 September 2025
  
• Aalto ARTS Grad Show
  Väre, Aalto University Campus, Espoo
  3 September – 6 October 2025
  

aarnivk@gmail.com
Instagram

02.Loom of Reality

Ilmo & Aarni Kapanen
2024 JavaScript



Loom of Reality is a generative media artwork by Ilmo and Aarni Kapanen, selected as a finalist in Combine24, a computational art competition organized by the Finnish National Gallery. The piece investigates identity, tradition, and cultural memory through the lens of algorithmic processes and digital tools.
    Drawing exclusively from landscape paintings by Eero Järnefelt, the artists trained a generative system to produce a continuous digital tapestry. Visually, the work echoes the ryijy—a traditional Nordic textile—and conceptually references the loom as a historical precursor to modern computing. The result is a contemplative fusion of past, present, and future—a meditation woven in pixels.
    Loom of Reality was awarded both the Jury Prize and Audience Favourite. It was exhibited at Teollisuuskatu 9, Helsinki (20 September – 26 November 2024) and subsequently at Dunkunsthalle, 64 Fulton St, New York City (9 May – 21 June 2025).

Creative Direction: Ilmo & Aarni Kapanen
Coding: Ilmo Kapanen
Copywriting: Ilmo & Aarni Kapanen