Markus Lähteenmäki
Dr. Sc. ETH Zurich, 2022
MA, Courtauld Institute, University of London, 2013
Born in Helsinki, 1988 

 

I am a historian and curator of art and architecture with over a decade of experience in working with Europe’s leading institutions on ground-breaking projects in the expanded field of architectural culture.

 

I am currently a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funded Visiting Research Fellow at Institute for Advanced Studies, University College London, and, from January 2025, the Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Histories, Europe’s leading journal dedicated to architectural history and a pioneer in the field of open access academic publishing. My research interests include the relationship of art and architecture to power, cultures of empire, display and mediation of architecture, histories of avant-garde, as well as creative processes of art and design, in particular drawings. I'm currently finalising a book Unmaking the Empire: Architecture and the City in Revolutionary Russia, and two edited volumes on power, art, media, and architecture. I was the convenor and General Chair of the EAHN Thematic Conference States in Between: Architecture and Empire in East Europe and North Eurasia that took place in Helsinki in June 2023. I currently teach history of architecture as an associate at the Architecture Deparment of Estonian Academy of Arts and the Deparment of Cultures of University of Helsinki.

 

I received my doctorate in history of architecture from ETH Zurich and my MA in history of art from the Courtauld Institute, University of London. In 2014–2016 I worked as the inaugural Director of Projects at Drawing Matter, a trailblazing project on architectural drawings, collections and their mediation. I had a key role in setting it up on track and developing its modes of operation from academic collaborations to exhibitions and publications and I continue to advise the project on an informal basis. Since, I have continued to work with these themes as an independent consultant, curator and writer as well as in my academic positions, at ETH (2017–2022), University of Helsinki (2022–) and UCL (2022–2024).

 

My texts have been published in the world’s leading academic journals such as Comparative Studies in Sociey and History and Art History, in leading publications in the field of architectural culture and research, including Harvard Design Magazine, Log, Architectural Review, as well as in Finland´s largest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. My exhibitions have been featured among others by the Financial Times and as "Critic´s Pick" in Art Forum.

 

I have collaborated on exhibitions with both major public institutions such as Swiss Architecture Museum and ETH as well as leading private galleries such as Hauser & Wirth. My latest curatorial projects include Paperwork – What drawing do, an exhibition of architectural drawings from the collections of the Museum of Architecture and Design in Helsinki, Instruments of Occupation, a collaboration with the artists and architects Dan Dubowitz and Tuomas Toivonen to explore the meanings of natural landscapes scarred by imperial powers, and Planetarium, a project with the architects Alexander Brodsky and Peter Märkli to explore the creative power of drawing and display in architecture.

 

I am a member of the Helsinki and Uusima Hospital District Arts Council, working to bring arts and culture to hospital enviroments across the over 20 hospitals of the district that serve 2 million people. I am a Councillor of European Architectural History Network (EAHN) and a board member of Finnish Association of Art Historians.