Taidevaltakunta ’26 Lets Visitors Shape Performances, Sculptures and Sound Works

Taidevaltakunta ’26 biennial runs across Finlayson, Haihara Art Centre and city spaces from 13 June to 16 August 2026. It follows the Biennale's March announcement that the event would open across Finlayson TR1 and TR2 halls, Haihara Art Centre and riverside sites while Tampere Art Museum undergoes renovation.

Participatory and performative works take centre stage. At Finlayson, Jenny Vesiväki will act as an on-duty artist with Reception of Imaginary Solutions, handing visitors a playful "recipe" for everyday problems such as a missing sock or summer boredom. Many pieces ask for bodily involvement. Raisa Foster’s Time of Unproductivity unfolds as a participatory performance in a city park. The Transition Zone installation by Anna Hyrkkänen, Katri Mononen and Mia Saharla mixes painting, sculpture, light and video, inviting viewers to walk into the work as it changes.

Several projects probe human relationships with nature and animal rights. At Haihara, Helinä Hukkataipale and Ida Sofia Fleming present The Sound of a Tree, the Sound of a Friend, a sound work and performance centered on a century-old spruce. Juho Kanervo and Sirkku Rosi’s Shelters draws on fieldwork in nearby forests; it includes a live concert in the LemPi forest that will also stream into the installation. Siina Levonoja stages a ten-day performative installation, Homage to 5867 Cattle. She models small clay cows and invites the public to join the sculpting phase. The work reflects on the 2020 Gulf Livestock shipwreck and the value of production animals.

Produced by Tampere Art Museum, the biennial is organised under the theme Together, which guides the works' forms, practices and visitor experiences. One work, Hokkanen's 70 recycled traffic signs in Koskipuisto, has already been highlighted in our recent coverage of the Biennale's installations.