Open, Accessible and Communal - Helsinki Biennial 2025

This summer, from 8 June to 21 September 2025, Helsinki transforms into a sprawling, living art space for the third edition of the Helsinki Biennial. Titled “Shelter — Below and Beyond, Becoming and Belonging”, this ambitious citywide exhibition brings together 37 artists and collectives from 30 different countries, many of whom are creating site-specific works that respond directly to their surroundings — from the rich wilderness of Vallisaari Island to the bustling Esplanade Park and the contemporary spaces of HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025. Photo: Helsinki Biennial / HAM.

Sara Bjarland: Stranding, 2025. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen

Curated by Blanca de la Torre and Kati Kivinen, the Biennial invites us to reflect on what “shelter” means in a world increasingly defined by ecological upheaval, migration, and communal transformation. The title points to a need for refuge — not just physical, but ecological and spiritual — while emphasizing interconnectedness across species and landscapes. The artists respond to these questions through a rich array of media: sculptural installations, video, sound, and performative interventions.

Yayoi Kusama: Flowers that Bloom Tomorrow, 2011. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, HAM Helsinki Art Museum.Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen

HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: HAM/Helsinki Biennaali

Some highlights include Olafur Eliasson's site-specific piece in Kruunuvuorenranta, Yayoi Kusama's sculptural form blooming amid the city, and Ernesto Neto's communal installation, which merges artistry, healing, and nature into a unified experience. Otobong Nkanga and Giuseppe Penone further reflect on human relationships to the land, tying their works to place, materials, and ecological knowledge.

Olafur Eliasson: Viewing machine, 2001/2003, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. © 2001/2003 Olafur Eliasson. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen

The Biennial is supported by the City of Helsinki, HAM (Helsinki Art Museum), and numerous funders and collaborators, including the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Saastamoinen Foundation, Tiftö Foundation, and the John Nurminen Foundation, which supported a special project reflecting on the health of the nearby Gulf of Finland, and FRAME. Partners such as the Finnish Heritage Agency, Metsähallitus, and S Group hotels have teamed up to make this a genuinely civic enterprise — a Biennial designed to connect art, community, and policy in powerful, forward-thinking ways.

Giuseppe Penone: Luce e Ombra (Light and Shadow), 2014, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Esplanade Park. Courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen

The media response underscores its significance. Forbes described the Biennial as “a sprawling, ambitious event that merges art, nature, and civic imagination.” Frieze highlights its ecological practice — framing it not just as an art show but as a form of “planetary thinking”— while TimeOut called it “Europe’s coolest new arts festival.” The Biennial is more than a display; it's a temporary ecosystem, a network of relationships, a communal inquiry into what it means to live together in a changing world.

This extensive, citywide showcase underscores Helsinki’s role as a laboratory for art and ecology — a place where artists are not separate from their surroundings but profoundly entangled with them. The Biennial advocates for a view of culture as a form of care, a way to heal divisions, connect communities, and illuminate paths toward more equitable and sustainable futures.

Ernesto Neto: SaariBird, 2025. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen

Visitors can explore most of the Biennial for free, with convenient ferry service to Vallisaari and extensive programming across the city, from workshops to talks and special events. The aim is to make contemporary art open, accessible, and communal, reflecting a deep-rooted understanding that culture belongs to everyone.

Raimo Saarinen: Invasive Scent, 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island.Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen

Tania Candiani: Sonic Seeds, 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen

As the world wrestles with climate change, migration, and growing inequality, the Helsinki Biennial 2025 is a powerful affirmation of art’s ability to foster solidarity, curiosity, and renewal. It invites us to view ourselves as part of a larger whole — an ecosystem of human and non-human life — and to imagine future forms of coexistence founded on care, creativity, and collaboration.

Helsinki Biennial 2025: Shelter — Below and Beyond, Becoming and Belonging

The third biennial takes place from 8 June to 21 September 2025 on Vallisaari Island, in Esplanade Park, and at HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

https://helsinkibiennaali.fi/en/ 

Images credits.

From left to right: 1-2. Yayoi Kusama: Flowers that Bloom Tomorrow, 2011. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen. 3-4. HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: HAM/Helsinki Biennaal. 5-6. Olafur Eliasson: Viewing machine, 2001/2003. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. © 2001/2003 Olafur Eliasson. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen. 6-7. Tue Greenfort: Limulus Polyphemus Lampisaari (Pond Island), 2025. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Courtesy of König Galerie. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen. 8-9. Otobong Nkanga: Tied to the Other Side, 2021. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen. 9-10. Ingela Ihrman: The Giant Hogweed, 2020. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen. 11-12. Sara Bjarland: Stranding, 2025. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen. 13-14. Tania Candiani: Sonic Seeds, 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island.Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen