{"id":9122,"date":"2026-01-12T20:05:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instituutit.fi\/?p=9122"},"modified":"2026-03-29T20:16:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T17:16:38","slug":"oulu-2026-european-capital-of-culture-brings-art-and-culture-within-everyones-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instituutit.fi\/en\/oulu-2026-european-capital-of-culture-brings-art-and-culture-within-everyones-reach\/","title":{"rendered":"Oulu 2026 European Capital of Culture brings art and culture within everyone\u2019s reach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Ouluhalli was packed for the “Vuosi vaihtuu” event celebrating the start of Oulu’s year as European Capital of Culture. Photo: Uula Neitola<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oulu will be the stage for European culture in 2026. The Capital of Culture year got off to a roaring start at Ouluhalli, spurred on by the \u201cVuosi vaihtuu\u201d New Year\u2019s celebration. The setting for the celebration could be described as a spectacular blend of northern winter and urban culture. KUUMAA, Suvi Ter\u00e4sniska, BESS, pehmoaino, HOKKA, Goldielocks, and Ege Zulu ushered Oulu and its 39 partner municipalities into the Capital of Culture year. We are now heading into the Capital of Culture year with great enthusiasm. It highlights northern culture, collaboration, and a diverse urban landscape<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Text: Uula Neitola<\/p>\n

In January, the long-awaited and carefully prepared Oulu 2026 Capital of Culture year will officially open. The Capital of Culture year will be celebrated at the Oulu2026 Opening Festival from January 16\u201318. This festival, which will take over downtown Oulu, is a showcase of what the year has to offer: nearly 200 events will be spread across more than 20 venues throughout the city center.<\/p>\n

\u201cHundreds of arts organizations, festivals, and other creative sector actors are making the Oulu2026 year happen. That represents a tremendous amount of expertise and commitment. I believe the total number of individual events will reach as many as 3,000. Our shared year will shed new light on the importance of culture and creativity in all our activities,\u201d says Samu Forsblom, Program Director of Oulu2026.<\/p>\n

Finnish Cultural Institutes play a diverse role in the program<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although most of the events are geographically located in northern Finland, participants come from all over the world. The European dimension is evident not only through international networks and participants but also through the pan-European themes of the projects. The Oulu2026 program call encouraged applicants to seek out partnerships themselves already during the application phase, and this is also reflected in the projects. In some of them, the lead implementer is international. This is evidenced by the extensive participation of Finnish cultural and scientific institutes in the Capital of Culture year projects.<\/p>\n

For example, the Finnish Institute in Germany is closely involved in the Oulu2026 project, implementing projects in collaboration with local actors, such as a mobile sauna, and participating in the creation of the cultural program and international networking. The Institute has also helped build an artistic sauna\u2014similar to the one seen in the German Capital of Culture, Chemnitz\u2014as part of the Oulu2026 program.<\/p>\n

The Finnish Institute in Estonia organized the \u201cNaked Truth\u201d discussion festival in the Oulu2026 sauna in honor of Tartu\u2019s 2025 Capital of Culture year. In the fall, the Institute also helped organize the Aalto Bridge event, in which the two Capital of Culture cities, Tartu and Oulu, built a one-day event bridge between Alvar Aalto\u2019s buildings. One end of the bridge was Villa Tammekann, a villa designed by Aalto in Tartu, while the other was the Aalto Silo in Oulu.<\/p>\n

The Finnish Institute in Madrid\u2019s exhibition and residency project, UOMA, will forge connections between the Oulu2026 region and Madrid from 2024 to 2026. During their residencies, Finnish-Spanish artist pairs will have the opportunity to explore each other\u2019s home regions and work together. The residencies will take place in the Oulu2026 region and in the Madrid metropolitan area, outside the cities. The project will also be showcased in both cities: Finnish artists will bring their exhibitions to the Madrid Institute\u2019s gallery, and the results of the entire project will be presented in Oulu in 2026 and in Madrid in 2027. In addition, smaller-scale events are planned during the residencies. The Institute also supported The Post-Industrial Dance event held at the Aalto Silo in Toppila. The festival was a significant step in transforming the concrete silo designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto into an innovative cultural space.<\/p>\n

The Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute is participating in the major exhibition of S\u00e1mi art and duodji, Eanangie \u2013 The Language of the Earth, at the Oulu Art Museum. The exhibition features over 70 artists and duodji craftspeople from S\u00e1pmi. Its themes include ancestors, between worlds, the earth, green colonialism, and the adornments of life. Visitors can experience contemporary art, S\u00e1mi handicrafts (duodji) from different generations, soundscapes, and art-historical works. The exhibition also incorporates the international S\u00e1pmi Triennale traveling exhibition, which is presented as part of the overall program.<\/p>\n

The Finnish Institute for the Benelux has strongly supported the Oulu 2026 organization\u2019s visits to Brussels and the European Parliament. In November 2025, the Benelux Institute organized the \u201cCultural Climate of Curiosity\u201d event, which featured, among other things, a preview of the production Xulu202x, set to premiere in Oulu in February. The aim of the production is to provide a platform for diverse voices, particularly those of marginalized youth and young adults. Additionally, the Finnish Benelux Institute collaborated to bring performances of the Dutch production \u201cBoys Won\u2019t Be Boys\u201d to the Oulu Theater in 2024.<\/p>\n

The Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland has collaborated with the cultural cooperative ILME and the SICK! Festival. The result is a magnificent community art project exploring the histories of Oulu and Manchester and their points of connection. The artists selected to carry out the project created participatory works that address themes of sustainability, migration, and\/or industry in two post-industrial cities whose histories are marked by multifaceted phases. The works will culminate in public performances as part of the T\u00e4\u00e4lt\u00e4 taiteeseen travel agency\u2019s program and at the SICK! Festival in Manchester in the summer of 2026. The Institute is also supporting the \u201cOut of Time\u201d exhibition, opening at the Oulu Art Museum in the fall of 2026, which brings together international and Finnish contemporary artists.<\/p>\n

The Finnish Institute in Japan is supporting the coordination of a mural for the European Capital of Culture year, which will be created in downtown Oulu to mark the occasion, and the selection of the artist will focus on Finland. A call for portfolios was opened to visual artists living and working in Finland at the end of 2025. Upon completion, the Oulu2026 murals will be added to the collections of the Oulu Art Museum.<\/p>\n

In the fall of 2025, the Finnish Institute in Hungary, FinnAgora, supported the HEAVY LACE exhibition in Budapest, organized in collaboration with the Nordic Roma Museum and the Oulu2026 organization. The exhibition showcased the rich lace-making tradition of Finnish Roma over the past century. In addition to embroidered home textiles, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the lives of lace makers in the 1960s and 1970s<\/p>\n

In some projects, the main implementer is an Oulu-based organization, but the original idea may have come from a partner based elsewhere. In the context of the Capital of Culture year, internationality means concrete cooperation between countries and cultures, but it can also refer to what unites, for example, Northern and Southern Europe on an intellectual level.<\/p>\n

A few highlights from the 2026 cultural program:<\/strong><\/p>\n