The Helsinki Biennial 2025 reveals Shelter: Below and beyond, becoming and belonging as the title of its third edition, which will present and celebrate ambitious work by around 35 Finnish and international artists and artist groups across three distinct venues: Vallisaari island in the Helsinki archipelago, HAM Helsinki Art Museum, and, for the first time, Esplanade Park in central Helsinki.
Curated by Blanca de la Torre and Kati Kivinen, Shelter takes inspiration from Vallisaari’s protected ecosystem, preserved from human habitation for decades. Against this biodiverse backdrop and amid the global climate crisis, the biennial invites us to rethink shelter not as a physical barrier against the elements, but as a nurturing space-psychological, social, or ecological-where all forms of life can find protection and thrive. Shifting away from a humancentric perspective, it invites artists to foreground non-human actors-plants, animals, fungi, and minerals-as protagonists in the works, reimagining humanity’s relationship with nature to inspire positive environmental action.
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