Best of Lux Helsinki Light Festival 2018

Lights are on in Helsinki! What a feeling! So far the winter in Helsinki has been extremely dark and rainy with zero snow and zero sunshine. This is the reason why we got so excited earlier today when the Lux Helsinki Light Festival shedded new light on the Finnish capital city.The playground for Lux Helsinki Light Festival this year is the impressive Helsinki city centre district of Kaartinkaupunki, where the streets, squares and

Christiania: Open-air Street Art Gallery of Copenhagen, Denmark

You may have read on my previous post that exploring Copenhagen’s Freetown Christiania is definitely an adventure not to miss when you are visiting Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It is literally a trip to another world where norms and laws of a regular society do not apply.

Highlights of Lux Helsinki Light Festival 2017

Lux Helsinki light festival and freezing cold weather conditions are here again! Every year they seem to arrive hand in hand. With arctic temperatures down to -20 degrees below zero and harsh wind I braved the cold and headed out to explore Lux Helsinki on Thursday, the first night of the five-day festival (5–9 Jan 2017).Last year I was impressed by Lux Helsinki art installations more than ever and it felt like an exciting and colourful winter wonderland in the darkness. So this year my expectations were

Top 5 Inspiring Museums to Visit in Helsinki

Helsinki is full of interesting museums and now that it is the darkest time of year with short, grey and gloomy days I decided to go out there to explore the museum scene of Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

As I mentioned earlier, I have never been a big fan of museums and never in a million years thought I would get excited about museums but on my explorations I actually found some great gems and fantastic sources of inspiration. Did I find the inner artist or historian in me? Not really, but it did widen my horizons a bit more and I did enjoy a great deal!

Hot Spot by Mona Hatoum. Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.

Oh and one great tip: some museums in Helsinki offer

In Infinity with Crazy Polka Dot Art at HAM Helsinki Art Museum

I am not the biggest fan of museums but when something out of the ordinary comes up, like the colourful exhibition In Infinity by Yayoi Kusama at HAM Helsinki Art Museum at Tennis Palace (Tennispalatsi) in Helsinki city centre, I could not wait to have the opportunity to visit.Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who creates lots of different types of art – installations, paintings, sculptures. And they all have one thing in common – polka dots.

The museum entrance was all painted with polka dots in red and white and once I reached the top of

Hidden Secret of Helsinki: Oil Silo 468

Last night at sunset I took the opportunity to visit Oil Silo 468 (Öljysäiliö 468), a retired oil silo on the sea shores of Helsinki, that a couple of years ago was transformed into a permanent urban light installation.Oil Silo 468 is most definitely a hidden secret of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, as it is rarely open to the public but now during

Helsinki Night of the Arts

On Thursday this week during the annual one-day festival, Night of the Arts, Helsinki truly did its best to organise a wide range cultural events, exhibitions, workshops, performances and surprises to people of all ages.

The Night of the Arts in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is actually a festival within a festival, taking place every August during the fortnight of Helsinki Festival, locally

Helsinki Street Art

During the past few weeks I have discovered a totally new side of Helsinki – urban street art of Helsinki. Now that it is summer I commute to places mostly by bicycle instead of car or public transportation. This has totally opened my eyes to new things such as urban art. Earlier I did not realise that there is a wealth of creative street art everywhere in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, making the city a lot more vivid and colourful.Last summer I was curious enough to visit Suvilahti graffiti wall to see some street art but some time back when

Celebrating Helsinki Day – Birthday of the City of Helsinki

Last weekend Helsinki, the capital of Finland, turned into a huge festival for one day. This festival is called Helsinki Day (Helsinki-päivä), an annual celebration held on 12 June to celebrate the birthday of the city of Helsinki. The tradition was started in the late 1950s and ever since the festival has grown and become more popular year after year.During Helsinki Day the city centre is packed with a wide variety of free events, outdoor concerts, guided tours, exhibitions, open houses, art and music performances, activities etc. organised by local companies, organisations, associations and residents. There is plenty to

Lux Helsinki Lights Up the Dark Polar Nights

In January nights in Finland can feel endlessly long as we only have 6 hours of daylight. Luckily we have a tiny bit of white snow in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, too so it is not completely dark. However more light is needed to cheer people up during the darkest time of the year. And we did get some more light into the city as the Lux Helsinki Light Festival started a couple of days ago.

During 5 days (6–10 Jan 2016, 5–10 pm) the annual Lux Helsinki Light Festival illuminates Helsinki city centre with luminous artwork by talented artists from around the world. I have visited Lux Helsinki Light Festival each year but this time I was more impressed than ever. Most of the installations were very creative and full of clever ideas.