Media Art History in Finland is a wikiproject by AvoinGLAM to gather and display the history of media art from Finland. It is created in the memory of Minna Tarkka, Finnish curator, educator, artist and activist who passed away in 2023.

The initial collection is based on the artists and artworks in the MEHI – Media Art History in Finland project, a tour-de-force of Finnish arts organizations to record the history of media art in Finland. Read the Open Culture materials in the MEHI project.

The data for artists and artworks from the MEHI database has been imported to Wikidata. This way the results of the project are available for anyone to display and enrich. The artist entries link to Wikipedia articles whether they exist or not. If not, you can create it in your language. If an artist or artwork does not exist in Wikidata, you can add them using a snappy form.

• Browse artists and artworks on these pages. The information is stored in Wikidata.
• Edit information about artists and artworks in Wikidata.
• Add new artists or artworks to Wikidata.
• Add images of artists or artworks on Wikimedia Commons → View instructions.
• Work with articles in the Wikiproject on Finnish Wikipedia.

• Join the international Wikiproject Media art on Wikidata that works on data modelling for media art.
• Join AvoinGLAM Media Art History project. It includes activities to inform artists and organizations about using open licenses and open platforms to document media art. Email avoinglam@okf.fi.

The Media Art on Wikimedia projects expert group participates in the workshop organized from February 5th to 8th, 2025, at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany.

The expert meeting arranged on 17 October at LI-MA, Amsterdam, Netherlands discussed how digital art communities, festivals, and individual artists can engage with digital cultural heritage and commons initiatives. The group started the collaborative production of a blueprint for contributing to Wikimedia platforms or creating one's own Wikibase for the archive. Participants of the meeting included Dušan Barok / Monoskop, Annet Dekkerand Chiara Borgonovo / University of Amsterdam, Tereza Havlíková / Zentrum für Netzkunst , Gaby Wijers, Sanneke Huisman & Joost Dofferhof / LI-MA, Andreas Kohlbecker / ZKM, Hanno Lans, Philipp Messner / Critical Media Lab, Andrew Paterson / AvoinGLAM, Pixelache, Lozana Rossenova / Open Science Lab in TIB Hannover and Susanna Ånäs / AvoinGLAM, MEHI, ISEA94.

• When: Fri 26 January at 10–16
• Where: MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Center, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki
• Language: Finnish

Closing seminar of the MEHI – Media Art History in Finland Project gathers and conveys versatile information and practical tools accumulated in the MEHI project, and looks to the future, examining the place of media art as part of research and art history.

The goal of the seminar day is to inspire media art and museum professionals to continue historical work. In the morning workshops, the practices of media art cataloging and conservation planning, ontology for media art and open licensing of works of art will be presented. The subjects of the research-focused afternoon session will be introduced by e.g. FT Jussi Parikka, FT Riikka Niemelä and Media & Visual Artist Merja Puustinen.

This page shares Agryfp's 'Bridging Media Art History and Open Knowledge' Learning Journal as they become involved as an artist-organiser working with AvoinGLAM in Wikimedia orientated ecosystems.

• AvoinGLAM