Nella Aarne is Curator and Project Manager, Contemporary Art at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art. Prior to joining EMMA, she worked as Assistant Curator: Exhibitions and Public Programmes at Spike Island in Bristol, UK, and co-directed Obsidian Coast, an independent curatorial platform in Bradford-on-Avon, hosting exhibitions, residencies, and public programmes.

Most recently at EMMA, Aarne curated Axel Straschnoy’s solo exhibition and publication We believe and accept that these beings exist. At Obsidian Coast, she co-curated projects including april forrest lin 林森: (Tending) (to) (Ta) (2021); Adam Khalil & Zack Khalil: INAATE/SE/ (2020); and Sonia Levy: For the Love of Corals (2018).

In her work, she has focused on social manoeuvring of ethical encounters, alternative notions of productivity, and collaborative learning. She is committed to critical thought that calls for sensitivity to our socio-political and material involvement with countless subject positions, histories, living beings, technologies, and infrastructures.

Aarne has worked with and contributed to programmes at Residency Unlimited, New York; UmArts, Umeå University; Kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga; Somerset House, London; ICA, London; and Glasgow International, among others. In 2021, she was an Associate Lecturer on the MA Curating programme at the University of the West of England. She earned her BA in History of Art from the University of Leeds and her MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths (University of London).

Photo: © Paula Virta / EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art