Helsinki Biennial returns in 2027 with art across the city

International

Around 45 artists and artist groups will transform Vallisaari Island, Esplanade Park and HAM Helsinki Art Museum from June to September

Helsinki is preparing for the fourth edition of its international contemporary art biennial. Helsinki Biennial will return from 6 June to 19 September 2027, bringing art to the historic island of Vallisaari, the centrally located Esplanade Park and HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

The event follows a successful 2025 edition, which recorded approximately 568,000 visits. For 2027, organisers have chosen the theme “Unknowns”, focusing on curiosity, imagination and encounters with things that cannot immediately be explained or understood.

Art meets the Baltic landscape

One of the distinctive features of Helsinki Biennial is the way contemporary art is presented within very different environments. Vallisaari lies only a short ferry journey from the city centre, combining wild island landscapes and historic fortifications with views across the Baltic Sea.

The exhibition continues in Esplanade Park, one of Helsinki’s best-known public spaces, before extending indoors to HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

This combination allows visitors to experience contemporary art alongside some of the characteristics that define Helsinki as a destination: maritime landscapes, architecture, urban culture and easy access to nature.

First 12 artists announced

Around 45 artists and artist groups from Finland and other countries are expected to participate in the 2027 edition. The first 12 names have now been announced.

They include Ari Bayuaji from Indonesia and Canada, US artist Tara Donovan, France’s Laurent Grasso, Marguerite Humeau from France and the United Kingdom, Finnish artists Matias Karsikas, Josefina Nelimarkka and Anna Retulainen, Sámi artist Britta Marakatt-Labba, Denmark’s Ragnhild May and Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara and Thailand’s Tawatchai Puntusawasdi.

Further participants will be announced over the coming months.

Exploring the “Unknowns”

The 2027 biennial is curated by Mami Kataoka and Arja Miller. Under the theme “Unknowns”, the exhibition will explore uncertainty, mystery and imagination rather than attempting to provide definitive answers.

Its artistic approach draws inspiration from subjects ranging from astronomy, geology and science to mythology and spirituality. The aim is to examine different ways of understanding both visible phenomena and aspects of the world that remain hidden or unexplained.

More than half a million visits in 2025

Helsinki Biennial has grown into a major contemporary art event since its first edition in 2021. The approximately 568,000 visits recorded in 2025 underline its increasing importance both for Helsinki’s cultural scene and as an attraction for international travellers.

Its influence also extends beyond the duration of each exhibition. Several works commissioned for previous editions have subsequently become permanent additions to Helsinki’s public art collection.

For visitors in summer 2027, the biennial will therefore offer both temporary installations and traces left by previous editions – spread across a city where museums, public spaces and the Baltic archipelago are rarely far apart.