Its name kiasma, Finnish for chiasma, alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl.

The competition was open to architects from the Nordic and Baltic countries, in addition to which four architects or studios from elsewhere were invited to participate, though they were obliged to submit their proposals anonymously: Steven Holl from the US, Alvaro Siza from Portugal, Coop Himmelb(l)au from Austria, and Kazuo Shinohara from Japan.

[1] The competition results were announced in 1993, and the winning proposal, titled Chiasma by Steven Holl, was selected from the 516 submitted entries.

The design of the building, Finnish-ized as "Kiasma", underwent slight modification during the design process, but nevertheless was regarded as controversial; for instance its close proximity to the equestrian statue of Finnish President Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.

[6] The collections include works by around 8,000 artists,[7] including Reetta Ahonen, Martti Aiha, Jan van Andersson Aken, Anders Gustaf, Antonio Rotta, Bernard Baron, Stig Baumgartner, Cornelis Pietersz Bega, Erik Snedsbøl, Nicolas Berchem, Honoré Daumier, Karel Dujardin, Nunzio Gulino [it], Torger Enckell [fi], Aarne Jämsä [fi], Ismo Kajander [fi], Raimo Kanerva [fi], Søren Dahlgaard and Risto Laakkonen.