The Utopia Now collection exhibition, which opened in 2017 as part of Finland’s centenary celebrations, has closed on Sunday 12 April. This much-loved exhibition has offered new perspectives on Finnish design while also challenging established narratives. Since last year, the exhibition has been further enriched with Finnish architecture.

From the beginning of June, the first floor will be taken over by the exhibition Aalto Design – Forms of Wellbeing, which explores the thinking on wellbeing of some of the most renowned figures in Finnish architecture and design: Aino, Alvar and Elissa Aalto.

At Utopia Now, visitors have also been able to immerse themselves in the Finnish Pavilion at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, which marked a breakthrough moment for Finnish design, art and architecture in an international context.

The exhibition has explored the essential role of the design fields in the development of the Finnish welfare state, while presenting designers, processes and end products in a human and accessible way. Exhibitions in the changing gallery space have critically examined the museum’s collection and renewed interpretations of it.

In 2020, the changing exhibition space featured Endless Rhythm, an installation by artist Caitlin Yardley, which examined form and movement through Aino Aalto’s Bölgeblick series (1932) dinner plate.

Utopia Now has also served as a versatile learning platform for school and daycare groups, offering visitors a gateway into the world of design learning. Alongside the exhibition, a digital collection presenting the holdings of the then Design Museum was published, expanding the exhibition experience and enabling access to the collections beyond the museum walls.