Cable Factory’s walls come to life – new graffiti gallery opens and visitors get to test a new audio tour on Night of the arts

On the Night of the Arts, 20 August 2026, something new will once again appear on Cable Factory’s walls. A gallery dedicated entirely to graffiti art will open in the basement lobby of staircase C. The gallery’s opening work has been created by Helsinki-based graffiti artists Alias & Niles. The piece invites viewers to look closely at the visual language, rhythm and structure of graffiti. At the heart of the work is the essence of graffiti: expression based on letters. The artwork in the gallery will change annually through an open call for artists.

The Pro Kaapeli and Nokia history galleries tell the stories of two significant chapters in Cable Factory’s history. The Nokia gallery explores Cable Factory’s connection to Nokia and the company’s technological development. The Pro Kaapeli gallery tells the story of how the building’s tenants came together to defend Cable Factory when it was threatened with demolition and fought to preserve it for cultural use.

The graffiti and history galleries bring even more to see in Cable Factory’s public spaces. The history corridor, which opened in November 2025, tells the story of Cable Factory from the early days of the cable industry to the cultural centre it is today. The building’s history unfolds across the corridor walls in a nearly 200-square-metre series of murals by artist Ruusa. The Jörn Donner gallery, which opened in February 2026, features film posters showcasing the life’s work and long film career of one of the building’s key figures.

- We want to make Cable Factory even more attractive to our visitors. The history galleries open up the building’s past to curious minds, while the graffiti gallery offers constantly changing street art in fascinating industrial interiors, says Kai Huotari, managing director of KAAPELI (Kiinteistö Oy Kaapelitalo).

Visitors invited to help develop the new audio tour

On the Night of the arts, visitors will be the first to test and help develop Cable Factory’s new self-guided audio tour. The tour works in a phone’s web browser and takes visitors through more than 100 years of Cable Factory history. Along the way, they will discover how the factory produced cables that were laid on the seabed, how computer and mobile phone technology was developed there, and how, thanks to artists, the industrial building became one of Finland’s largest cultural hubs in the 1990s.

The audio tour will be launched as a paid experience later this autumn, but visitors can try it for free during the Night of the Arts. Visitors are encouraged to give feedback on both the content and the user experience: what interests them and what could be improved.

The audio tour is part of Cable Factory’s Round. Guided group tours will also launch this autumn for a fee, taking visitors behind the scenes at Cable Factory, into event spaces, to meet people and organisations based in the building, and into places that are not normally open to the public.

Night of the Arts takes over Cable Factory

Cable Factory’s Night of the arts will take place on Thursday, 20 August 2026, 3–9 pm. In addition to the new galleries and audio tour, visitors can watch dance performances or open rehearsals, immerse themselves in art exhibitions, peek inside artists’ studios and stop for refreshments at the cafés. They can also take part in workshops and guided tours, try out circus equipment, hunt for finds at flea markets or enjoy the building’s rooftop sauna.

During the evening, Cable Factory’s largest event space, the 3,000-square-metre Merikaapelihalli, will also be opened up for everyone in the city to take over.

Admission to Cable Factory’s Night of the arts is free.

Explore the full programme for Cable Factory’s Night of the Arts 2026: https://www.kaapelitehdas.fi/fi/tapahtumat/kaapelitehtaan-taiteiden-yo-2026 (in Finnish)

More information:
Kai Huotari, Managing director, KAAPELI (Kiinteistö Oy Kaapelitalo), kai.huotari@kaapeli.com, tel. +358 50 384 1557