Erkki Kurenniemi

Life & Legacy

Erkki Juhani Kurenniemi (10 July 1941, Hämeenlinna, Finland – 1 May 2017, Helsinki) was a Finnish designer, philosopher and artist, best known for his electronic music compositions and the electronic instruments he has designed. He is considered to have been one of the leading early pioneers of electronic music in Finland. Kurenniemi was also a science populariser, a futurologist, a pioneer of media culture, and an experimental film-maker.
Kurenniemi completed the majority of his instruments, electronic compositions and experimental films in the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1962 and 1974, he designed and constructed ten electronic instruments and studio devices when he was working as a volunteer assistant at the Department of Musicology at the University of Helsinki, and as designer at Digelius Electronics Finland Oy, founded in 1970. In addition to the Musicology Department, Kurenniemi also worked as assistant and senior designer at the Department of Theoretical Physics from 1962 to 1973. Kurenniemi earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1968.
He subsequently worked as a designer of control systems for industrial robots at Oy W. Rosenlew Ab (1976–78), and as a designer of industrial automation and robotic systems at Nokia’s cable machinery division (1980–86). He also worked as a specialist consultant and Head of Planning at the Science Centre Heureka in Vantaa, Finland (1987–98).
Kurenniemi received the Finland Prize of the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2003. In 2004, he was elected honorary fellow of the University of Art and Design Helsinki. In 2011 Kurenniemi received the Order of the Lion of Finland medal from the President of Finland Mrs. Tarja Halonen.