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2026’s European Capital of Culture Oulu to open climate change-themed public art trail 2026’s European Capital of Culture Oulu to open climate change-themed public art trail
Oulu, the Finnish city set to serve as a European Capital of Culture in 2026, has announced that it will open a climate change-themed public art trail as part of its programming next year.
Set to open in June 2026, the Climate Clock consists of seven site-specific works that are being created in collaboration with scientists, each of which pays tribute to the natural environment it is found within. For example, artist collective SUPERFLEX is creating a piece along the harbour of the coastal area of Haukipudas, which, should rising sea levels cause it to be submerged, would foster marine biodiversity.
Alongside Haukipudas, works will be found in Yli-Ii, a woodland area beside the River Iijoki home to the Kierikki Stone Age Centre; Kiiminki, the woodland beside the Koiteli river rapids; Ylikiiminki, which hosts the annual Tar Festival; the suburban area of Oulunsalo; and the city’s central square.
Artist duo Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen will also be working with the residents of Oulu to create The Most Valuable Clock in the World, which will go on tour throughout the municipalities. The clock’s hour hand will display moments from Oulu’s natural annual cycle, while the second hands will highlight everyday moments filmed by locals.
Curator Alice Sharp, founder and Artistic Director of the UK-based international environmental art organisation Invisible Dust, noted, “The Climate Clock is ticking, the snow is melting, and we are learning anew what our forebears knew – that time is not ours to command; that nature keeps its own time. It has been so exciting to see how the artists have embraced scientific environmental thinking in Oulu2026’s incredible context, from the archaeological remains of Stone Age spiritual practices to measuring the uncontrollable melting of glaciers.”
Oulu is one of the world’s northernmost cities, located just below the Arctic Circle. The overall aim of the region’s stint as European Capital of Culture is to create lasting cultural climate change, to ‘feed creativity and new development, and build a more sustainable and open Europe and world for all’.
More information: oulu2026.eu/en
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