Children create temporary artworks for tram line construction

Tampereen Raitiotie Oy announced that two temporary children’s art works will be created along the tram line construction stretch of the Pirkkala–Linnainmaa route, bringing the kids’ creations into the working site environment.

The art is produced under the Ratikan taide programme, led by artist Anu-Riikka Lampinen. Children’s groups from Pirkkaalan Pereen and Pakkalanlyhdyn day care centres, as well as pupils from Hatanpään school, will take part in the workshops during March.

Lampinen will guide four art workshops at the day care centres and the school. In the sessions, children work with tool- and nature-themed shape stencils designed by the artist and with a predetermined colour palette. Day care groups focus on construction-related tool motifs, while schoolchildren concentrate on nature themes, and all participants freely combine shapes to invent new imaginative characters.

After the workshops, Lampinen will assemble the children’s figures into larger compositions. The works will be installed on temporary plywood fencing between the Härmälänojan and Vihilahden bridges in an estimated installation window of April. When the bridges are completed in summer 2026, the fencing will be removed and the artworks will be moved to a new location along the project to continue “living” in the area.

The initiative for temporary tram-site art came from the Pirkkala–Linnainmaa alliance. Project manager Sari Valjus from the alliance said it is positive to involve local children in shaping the look of the construction site, and that the artworks make the environment more lively while highlighting the community’s own visible handiwork.