Tampere Biennale opens 'Puu ei laula yksin' (Trees Don't Sing Alone) and dreamlike 'Hiidenkirnu'

Two new exhibitions exploring trees, memory and cultural entrapment open at Kulttuuritalo Laikku in Tampere on April 8. The Tampere Biennale runs through May 10 with free admission, according to the City of Tampere.

Puu ei laula yksin gathers works that treat the tree as a layered symbol: individual specimens, myths across cultures, the global state of forests and planting as a quiet form of resistance. Composers Riikka Talvitie and Teemu Mastovaara will perform at the opening (17:30–20:00). Activist Marko Ulvila will speak about the Green Trees replanting project in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria. Other contributors include Leevi Räsänen, Felix Hirsch and choreographer–visual artist Anne Naukkarinen.

Hiidenkirnu, by Markku Hakala and Mari Käki, is a film-based installation that frames a millennia-deep “cultural pitfall” and offers an elegy to a world growing harder to relate to. It pairs short motion pieces with photographic prints. Staged sets, careful lighting and extensive digital post-production create dreamlike, spare landscapes and fractured figures searching for connection. The couple from Ylöjärvi — both from outside conventional art and film circles — developed the project over six years, and the piece has won several international festival awards.

The exhibitions are at Kulttuuritalo Laikku (Keskustori 4). Opening hours are Tue–Fri 09:00–20:00 and Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00.