Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture Unveils Locations for New Region-Wide Art Trail: Climate Clock

Oulu2026, the European Capital of Culture, announced recently the line-up of artists participating in Climate Clock, one of its most significant productions launching in June 2026. Unfolding as a permanent public art trail across the municipality of Oulu in Northern Finland, Climate Clock will showcase six commissioned works by internationally acclaimed artists including: Ranti Bam (b. 1982, Nigeria), Rana Begum (b. 1977, Bangladesh), Takahiro Iwasaki (b. 1975, Japan), Gabriel Kuri (b. 1970, Mexico), Antti Laitinen (b. 1975, Finland), and SUPERFLEX (artist group, Denmark). The trail will also launch with a collaborative, community-driven artwork by artistic duo Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen (b.1975, Finland and b.1971, Germany).

Each of the commissioned artists will collaborate with a scientist to create site-specific outdoor installations that blend into natural and urban settings across the municipality. The artworks will celebrate the region’s breathtaking natural beauty, from the seas that freeze in winter, to the intense short summers with extremes of light. As one of the world’s northernmost cities, located 200 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, Oulu is warming four times faster than the global average, making it a vital site to create a pause for reflection on the acceleration and necessity of addressing climate change.

Curated by Alice Sharp, founder and Artistic Director of the UK-based international environmental art organisation Invisible Dust, Climate Clock draws from Sharp’s fifteen-year expertise of working with artists and scientists. She comments: “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.”

Programmed and managed by international producer Claudia Woolgar and the Oulu2026 team, Climate Clock will embody Oulu2026’s central concept of ‘cultural climate change’, harnessing art to raise environmental awareness, inspire hope for the future of the planet, and foster a permanently enriched cultural life for the region. She comments: “The region is stunning, and nature sits at the heart of the local communities which profoundly informed the choice of locations for the artworks. This art trail will put Oulu on the international art map like never before, offering beautiful interventions in the landscape for visitors and locals alike.”

Works by Ranti Bam and Antti Laitinen will encourage people to contemplate their physical and spiritual relationship with the natural world. In Yli-Ii, within a woodland area beside the River Iijoki and home to the Kierikki Stone Age Centre, Bam has involved local people in clay and organic material-making workshops, sharing ideas with archaeologists and geomorphologists. Situated next to the river and along a forest path at Kierikki, her large-scale ceramic vessels evoke the intrinsic but diminished synchronicity between humans and the environment, with clay symbolising their shared resilience and vulnerability. Laitinen’s installations will blend with the woodland beside the Koiteli river rapids in Kiiminki, at the popular Koitelinkoski outdoor and recreational area, encouraging viewers to pause and see the water and wildlife in a new way. Inspired by his work with a lichenologist, two large-scale kinetic sculptures incorporate moss and lichen – a bioindicator of air quality – exploring the impact of local pollution on their growth.

Rana Begum will draw inspiration from Oulu’s subarctic light and intricate shapes of its sea ice to create a series of sculptures that will transform Kauppurienaukio, the central square in Oulu’s city centre. Developed through conversations with glaciologist Alun Hubbard (University of Oulu), Begum draws on his research (shown on the BBC’s Frozen Planet) of the alarming melting rate of Arctic Circle glaciers.

Sculptor Takahiro Iwasaki is working with snow hydrologist Pertti Ala-aho to create delicate, miniature forms that capture the magic of nature. His installation will be situated in the Tervasautio recreational area of Ylikiiminki. Linked to Ylikiiminki’s annual Tar Festival, his work will reference local architectural shapes, an example of how each installation will celebrate the historic and cultural significance of their location.

A cautionary work by Gabriel Kuri will transform public spaces within the suburban area of Oulunsalo, specifically along Lentokentäntie. Working with UK-based climate scientist Kevin Anderson, Kuri’s work incorporates the visual language of risk assessment charts to warn of the dangers of climate change.

SUPERFLEX will create a new marine landmark set along the Kiviniemi harbour in the coastal area of Haukipudas. The Danish artist group brings their significant long-term collaboration with marine biologists and scientists to produce a new sculpture which, if submerged through rising sea levels, would foster marine biodiversity. Developed in conversation with local fishers, the work exemplifies the legacy of the wider Climate Clock project and encourages the public to slow down.

Finally, a participatory artwork by artist duo Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen invites residents of Oulu to co-create The Most Valuable Clock in the World. The clock’s hour hand will display moments from Oulu’s natural annual cycle, chosen in collaboration with scientific researchers from Lapland’s Arctic Centre and Oulu University; and the minute and second hands will highlight valuable everyday moments filmed by, or involving, locals. The work questions how we create ‘value’ in our fast-moving, modern consumer culture – and what kind of aspects of life have no price tag on them.

Samu Forsblom, Programme Director of Oulu2026, commented:

“We are proud of the wonderful collaboration with local residents and schools, who have contributed their ideas and creativity to The Most Valuable Clock in the World artwork. All of the international artists have been deeply inspired by their encounters with our community, the unique nature, and local history, as well as by their collaboration with scientists. Our partnership with the Oulu Museum of Art and Oulu’s Urban Environment Services ensures that these artworks will bring lasting joy to residents and visitors alike, well beyond the European Capital of Culture year in 2026.”

For further information about Climate Clock, and to read the curatorial statement, click here.

 

Credit line: Climate Clock launches in 12-13 June 2026 as part of Oulu2026, European Capital of Culture, www.oulu2026.eu

 

Notes to Editors

International Press Contacts

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About Oulu2026

Oulu2026, European Capital of Culture in 2026, invites Europe to find inspiration in the brave hinterlands of northern Finland. The year-long programme will awaken the entire region, including Oulu and its 39 partner municipalities, through cultural events from all over Europe that bring joy and creativity into people’s lives every day. From near, far, and everywhere in between, Oulu2026 offers the chance to experience world-class culture like never before.

From unique winter ceremonies and Sámi culture to summer’s wild urban culture, local culinary delights, and autumn’s dazzling light art, Oulu2026 transforms the region into a stage for international art, technology, northern contrasts, and Arctic flavours. Residents and visitors alike will discover culture thriving everywhere – in nature, on waterways, and in urban life.

In 2026, we are opening up a new connection between people – are you ready to discover it?

www.oulu2026.eu Join the conversation: @oulu2026official #oulu2026 #culturalclimatechange

About Alice Sharp

Alice Sharp, Artistic Director and founder of Invisible Dust UK in 2009, is a curator, speaker and advisor making the invisible visible, creating new international thinking on the ever pressing issues of climate futures; particularly through creating Forecast, Invisible Dust’s ongoing programme exploring what is shaping how we are thinking about the future of the planet. Imaginative thinkers she has collaborated with include Margaret Atwood, Ben Okri, Shezad Dawood and Zineb Sedira. Alongside Climate Clock, Sharp was selected for the British Council Malaysia Human Nature Delegation 2024; presentations include British Council ‘Circular Cultures’ Athens, Columbia University, New York; Davos 2020; the UN Development Programme Turkey; and hosting the International Association of Corporate Art Collections symposium in Madrid.

@AliceWSharp

About Invisible Dust

The curator of Climate Clock, Artistic Director Alice Sharp, founded Invisible Dust in 2009 as is a UK-based organization creating innovative UK and worldwide collaborations between artists and scientists to address the pressing future climate challenges. Through ambitious contemporary art commissions, exhibitions and ongoing ‘Forecast’ events, we inspire new imaginative thinking and raise hidden voices to engage wide communities and audiences. Notable artists include Joan Jonas, Hito Steyerl, Elizabeth Price, Gayle Chong Kwan, Jeremy Deller, Zineb Sedira and John Akomfrah, scientific collaborators include from Istanbul University, Columbia University New York and Imperial College London. Upcoming projects include Jeremy Deller and Emma Smith permanent works in ‘Wild Eye', ‘Forecast Turkey: Memory of Water’ and ‘Forecast India’ with Raqs Media Collective.

www.invisibledust.com @invisible_dust

About Claudia Woolgar

Claudia Woolgar is an experienced international programmer, producer, advisor and creative/strategic consultant with extensive international experience, most especially in the UK, The Netherlands, Ireland, Finland and Eastern Europe. She is co-founder of Brave New World Producties (BNWP). She was part of the programming team for Leeuwarden-Friesland European Capital of Culture 2018 and has been working with Oulu2026 since 2019, initially in an advisory capacity in the Bid Book phase, and thereafter as programmer and producer of the key international flagship projects. She sits on the European Capital of Culture’s experts panel and is a published theatre critic.

https://www.bravenewworldproducties.com/