The ecosystem of Vallisaari inspired the Helsinki Biennale

Contemporary art event Next year, the Helsinki Biennale will feature art from around 35 Finnish and international artists and artist groups.

The event announced the names of a few artists on Tuesday. At the biennial, we will see works from at least the Finnish sound collective Band of Weeds and the Finnish artist collective Nabbteer, as well as the Finnish Sara Bjarlandiltacontemporary visual artist from Brazil Ernesto Netolta and by a Filipino visual artist From Geraldine Javier.

An Icelandic-Danish artist known for his installation art will also arrive in Helsinki Olafur Eliassona Peruvian textile artist Ana Teresa Barbozaa Mexican artist known for his multimedia installations Tania Candiani and a visual artist of Nigerian origin Otobong Nkanga.

A Finnish contemporary artist is also included Hans Rosenström and the Norwegian artist collective Locus, which they form Thale Blix Fastvold and Tanja Thorjussen.

About half of the works are designed specifically for the biennale and will be seen for the first time in Helsinki.

Third organized for the first time, the biennale will spread to Vallisaari, Helsinki Art Museum Hami and for the first time in the very center of Helsinki, Esplanadi Park.

It got its inspiration above all from Vallisaari, which has been allowed to live in its own conditions for decades without human settlement and has therefore developed a rich ecosystem of its own. The artistic concept of the Biennale has its name Protection.

“At the 2025 Helsinki Biennale, art offers protection and compassion. The main role of the works is not people, but other living things, whose importance for the well-being of our common planet is opened from many perspectives”, the curators White of the Tower and Kati Kivinen say in the announcement.

“Indigenous people’s stories also emerge, which can bring us closer to a more sustainable way of life.”

The curators say they want to draw attention to the delicate relationship between humanity and nature. They believe that moving the point of view aside from the human gives space and creates understanding towards other living things.

Helsinki Biennale 8 June–21 September 2025.