Life on a Leaf Association
The purpose of the association is to promote collaboration between art, architecture, academic research and business, with the aim of creating an urban environment conducive to imagination and creativity.
The Life on a Leaf building is the centre of its activities. The association takes care of the maintenance and the preservation of this unique site together with Life on a Leaf Ltd, the owner of the building, in which the association has a majority shareholding. The activities are non-profit.
Activities
Organising an artist and/or researcher residency in the Life on a Leaf building.
Using Life on a Leaf as a place for encounters between the sciences and the arts, including seminars, symposia and alike.
Maintaining Life on a Leaf building as a special place to visit in Turku.
Organizing occasional symposia contributing to new visions on the urban environment from research or artistic viewpoints.
Producing occasionally art installation, environmental artwork or similar in the Life on a Leaf premises or elsewhere.
Preserving the Life on a Leaf building as part of Turku’s cultural heritage.
The association’s activities aim to have both local and international impact. Life on a Leaf works as part of international networks through its own contacts, with artists/researchers-in-residence, and with universities and colleges, in particular the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi and Turku University of Applied Sciences. Priority partners are those researching the relationship between art, architecture and urban space. As a specific architectural site, the building will contribute to the debate on the links between art, architecture and the built environment, and provide an exceptional place for this dialogue to take place in Turku.
The board members of Life on a Leaf Association are Ulrika Grägg (Chair), Mikaela Lostedt (Vice Chair), Saara Malila, Hanna Mattila, Marko Joas and Farbod Fakharzadeh. In addition, Niina Tanskanen acts as the residency coordinator and Ida Taavitsainen as the association’s secretary and ombudsman.
Property ownership
The Life on a Leaf building is owned by Life on a Leaf Oy Ab, of which Life on a Leaf Association is the largest shareholder. The activities are non-profit.
The house was originally built with the support of Liisa Joronen and remained in her ownership. When Joronen expressed her wish to withdraw in 2016, Hanna Nurminen (Kone Foundation) convened a group of experts to discuss the future of the house. The group was convinced that it should be made available for uses that would enable more and more people to experience, enjoy and be inspired by its uniqueness. At the meeting, an informal support group was formed and began working on an action plan and raising funds to buy the house.
To plan and later organise the activities, the Life on a Leaf Association was founded in 2017. The funds to buy the house were raised in 2018, when the Life on a Leaf Oy Ab was founded and the property was purchased. Funding was provided by the Kone Foundation, Konstsamfundet, Svenska Kulturfonden Investment Foundation, Åbo Akademi Foundation, Anders Wiklöf, the City of Turku and the Rauno and Anne Puolimatka Foundation. We are thankful for their donations, which made possible to turn a new leaf in the building’s future.
Thank you to Konstsamfundet, Kulturfonden, William Thurings stiftelse and Katy Gyllströms resestipendium for the genrous support of the association.