Mari Viita-aho

The museum institution’s societal agency and contemporary changes are central to my research. I focus on how museums approach and represent polycrises, difficult or dark heritage and how these – what I call Wicked Heritage Problems – impact their practices. I defended my PhD thesis Engaging with Wicked Heritage Problems: The Societal Agency of Museums in Flux in Contemporary Finland at the University of Helsinki in February 2025. Currently, I am working in the Uncomfortable Museum: Towards Safe, Brave Spaces project (Pl Johanna Turunen), where we scrutinise particular cases of museums dealing with difficult heritage and how the disturbing emotions experienced in the museum space may also hold repairing potential.