Areas of expertise
Research field: museology
- The societal agencies of museums
- Wicked Heritage Problems
- Ecologies of museum knowledges
- Heritagization
- Exhibition research
My research focuses on societal and epistemological agencies of the museum institution and their changes in the contemporary. In particular, I have focused on museum exhibitions and how they address and represent so-called “Wicked Heritage Problems”—such as the climate crisis or the legacies of colonialism. My dissertation, Engaging with Wicked Heritage Problems: The Societal Agency of Museums in Flux in Contemporary Finland, about the topic was examined at the University of Helsinki in February 2025.
I am currently conducting research on the state’s political influence on the production of museum knowledge under the working title “About the Possibility of a Neutral Museum”. In recent years, I have worked as a researcher on The Narratives of Finland – Historical Culture, the Arts, and Changing Nationality project (PI Jukka Kortti), in which I analysed the role of the National Museum of Finland in the construction of Finnish identity, and on the Uncomfortable Museum: Toward Safe, Brave Spaces project (PI Johanna Turunen), in which we examine museums addressing difficult topics and their potential in repair. Besides the National Museum, I have studied other museum types as well: cultural history -, art -, and house museums. I am the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Kulttuurintutkimus (Cultural Studies) with assoc. prof. Riikka Haapalainen.
Selected publications:
Viita-Aho, M., & Turunen, J. (2026). Staying with the Trouble: Reinterpreting the Coloniality of the Gallen-Kallela Museum’s “Africa Collection”. In Leonardi, F., Ludovici, G., & Bertelli, L. (eds.), Re-Interpreting and Re-Assessing Difficult Heritage: A Study of Dissonances. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-0364-6539-1/
Viita-aho, M. (2025). Engaging with Wicked Heritage Problems: The Societal Agency of Museums in Flux in Contemporary Finland. Academic Dissertation, The University of Helsinki. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-84-0529-0
Viita-aho, M. (2024). Suomen kansallismuseo poliittisena ja eettisenä toimijana. In Kortti, J., Viita-aho, M., Mähkä, R. & Marti, A. (eds.) Kertomuksia kansakunnasta. Suomi ja suomalaisuus muuttuvassa historiakulttuurissa. Gaudeamus, 111–125.
Kortti, J., Viita-aho, M., Mähkä, R. & Marti, A. (eds.) (2024). Kertomuksia kansakunnasta. Suomi ja suomalaisuus muuttuvassa historiakulttuurissa. Gaudeamus.
Viita-aho, M., Koistinen, A-K., Kosonen, H., Matikainen, M., Turunen, J. & Vargas, R. (2023). Epämukava, transformatiivinen ja rohkea museo? Tahiti: taidehistoria tieteenä, 2, 86–92.
Turunen, J. & Viita-aho, M. (2020). Suomalaisuuden ja toiseuden rajamailla. Eksotisointi Gallen- Kallelan Museon Afrikka-kokoelman näyttelyhistoriassa. In ”Kolonialismi ja Suomi”, Historiallinen aikakauskirja 4/2020.
Viita-aho, M. T., Donner, J., Myllylä, P., & Wahlroos, T. (2022). Aikakoneita ja utopioita: Taiteilijamuseot yhteiskunnallisina toimijoina. Gallen-Kallelan Museo. https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/aikakoneita-ja-utopioita-taiteilijamuseot-yhteiskunnallisina-toim
