This autumn, a talented team of creative professionals came together through our Luova Lämpiö Challenge Lab Series to craft a stunning audiovisual art piece for Power-Deriva (PD). With complete creative freedom—unrestricted by pre-existing visuals or storytelling frameworks—they were able to explore and develop their own artistic practices, resulting in a unique and deeply personal project.
Luova Lämpiö is a two-year-long co-research project funded byBusiness Finland Next Generation EU, in which the multidisciplinary Aalto Artpreneurship Research group explores novel solutions for cross-sector partnerships through experiments like the Challenge Lab Series. The research focuses on identifying what kind of collaboration between companies and creative professionals would be most mutually beneficial in terms of challengetypes and creative skills responding to the need. This framework involves three partners: the research team, a company participating in the research and artists and creative professionals. The Challenge Lab Series begins with a co-initiation, continues with a call for creatives, then the Challenge Lab, and after the lab day, a project production phase and at the end, a project delivery meeting with a facilitated discussion about the process, finished project and next steps.
Co-initiation between the research team and a company participating in the research processes involves a one to two-hour meeting during which the research team and the company discuss the company values, needs and the challenge that the creative professionals will work on during theChallenge Lab. The co-initiation is a workshop with three phases: first, defining the landscape of collaboration; second, defining the need and solution; and lastly, a creative value mapping to provide some boundaries withinwhat the creatives can converse with the company challenge. After negotiating a suitable company challenge based on the co-initiation meeting, the research team facilitates the Challenge Lab, where artists and creatives gather and form small teams to address the negotiated company challenge through creative means.
“I think we made it quite personalised in the way for each one of us with our own skills.” - Joseph
The creative team behind the audiovisual art piece for Power-Deriva was formed organically during the first Challenge Lab Series, bringing together three distinct artistic disciplines: sound and vocals by Mia Simanainen, animation by Juha Koivusalo and textile design by Joseph Hallam.
One of the core challenges of representing Power-Deriva was translating a complex and abstract concept into something emotionally resonant and visually compelling. The creative team approached this challenge by emphasising the human touch, a theme deeply embedded in their work.
Mia, with her expertise in music and vocals, played a pivotal role in shaping the emotional depth of the piece. Her soundscape acts as a guide, leading the viewer through the intricacies of Power Deriva in a way that feels both personal and immersive.
“The really important thing was the human sound.” – Mia
By integrating voice and organic sound elements, Mia transformed an abstract, technical subject into something tangible and emotionally evocative.
Juha, an expert in VR animation and illustration, took on the challenge of visually representing Power-Deriva. His work captures the intricate connections and interwoven systems that define PD, using dynamic, evolving patterns that build toward a complete picture.
The weaving metaphor was introduced by Joseph, whose background in textile design brought a fresh perspective to the project.Inspired by the way individual threads come together to create a unified fabric, he saw weaving as a perfect analogy for power networks—a concept that can feel abstract until we see how all the individual strands interconnect to form a greater whole.
This collaboration between Power-Deriva and our Luova Lämpiö Challenge Lab creatives is an inspiring example of how art can serve as abridge between complex, technical subjects and human understanding. By combining sound, visuals, and textile-inspired storytelling, the team has crafted an experience that brings power dynamics into a more relatable and tangible form.
Looking ahead, Power-Deriva is excited to continue ProjectLoom, further exploring how creativity and storytelling can shape our understanding of energy and power.
Q&A w Joseph Hallam
Describe the experience of the project from your perspective - what was it like.
I greatly enjoyed the project and found it very creatively fulfilling. I didn't expect to find it so interesting but the challenge of it really forced creative thinking. The team I worked with was really inspiring and it was great to interact with such creative people that had very different talents and skills to myself. We worked very well together and complimented each other's working styles well. The company we worked with was very receptive to our ideas and very willing to see us "push the boat out" and really allowed us to stretch out which really felt rewarding.
Where do you see the value is in the project that you have done?
I think our project's value comes from just how unconventional it is within the usual expectations of a project like this. Our deliverable was not what was expected and had a certain risk to it which luckily was appreciated and understood. I think it exactly highlighted what Luova Lämpiö is trying to show companies; that creative people can and will (if given the opportunity) come up with very radical solutions that aren't conventional and might be very new and innovative in a specific industry, but can be very valuable.
Has this project impacted the way you think about your work?
I think this project really made me realise how much I have to contribute and how valuable creativity is. I think being in an Aalto ARTS program, you forget that what we learn isn't known by everyone and so I have a lot to offer.This potential knowledge gap also really forced me to think about how to explain my process and how to justify my outcomes in creative work to those that might not speak the same "language" that I know through my studies and background.
