Sea level rises to the sky in Jätkäsaari’s new landmark

The installation of the third part of Akseli Leinonen’s The Fishermen of the Littorina Sea marks its completion, with three rowing boats, each positioned atop a steel mast, rising above Atlantinaukio and Madeiranaukio squares on either side of Jätkäsaari’s Atlantinsilta bridge. Together they form a gate, welcoming travellers and residents to the area. The boats will be lit during dark hours, creating the impression that they’re suspended in the air. 

Only the frames of the rowing boats remain, and they float at 20 metres above the current sea level atop 15-metre columns. The title refers to the Littorina Sea of around 8,000 years ago, which covered a large proportion of modern-day Finland. In that distant past the boats in Jätkäsaari would have bobbed on top of the waves and contemporary viewers would’ve found themselves at the bottom of the sea. 

“The artwork transports viewers to different eras: both post-Ice Age Finland but simultaneously to our potential future too. The ships of these ancient / future fishermen sketch the surface of the sea across the sky and change how we see the world around us,” explains Akseli Leinonen.

The Fishermen of the Littorina Sea makes change perceivable: different eras and spatial orders are simultaneously present in one place. The artwork is also a caution for the future. “I hope the work will help viewers perceive how the site has changed since the Ice Age. At the same time, I also hope it will evoke thoughts about how climate change – unless we manage to bring it under control – may once again cause sea levels to rise to the level of the boats.”

The motif of boats also connects different eras though the theme of livelihoods. From the ancient fishermen to modern day ports, the sea has provided a living, served as a trade route, and made travel possible. Jätkäsaari has a history of port operations that span over a century, making it a fitting site for an artwork that examines the changing relationship of people and the sea through the ages, from the distant past to possible futures.

The Fishermen of the Littorina Sea will be officially unveiled at a public event in Jätkäsaari’s Madeiranaukio square (Madeiranaukio 4), on Tuesday 29 September at 2 pm. The artwork will be unveiled by Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure Paavo Arhinmäki. Akseli Leinonen will also be in attendance.

Akseli Leinonen is a Helsinki-based sculptor and architect who works at the intersection of public art and architecture and has created several public artworks around Finland. In his art, Leinonen explores vast temporal scales; memories of a place’s history and references to imagined futures. Helsinki has two previous public artworks from Leinonen, the brickwork depression Massa (2019) located on Kansalaistori square, and the gravity-defying Ecology Stone (2020) in Keski-Pasila, which won the Keski-Pasila art competition in 2017.  

The Fishermen of the Littorina Sea is also the winner of an open competition. The competition was held in 2020 at the initiative of the artist co-operative Forum Box, and arranged by the Port of Helsinki, the City of Helsinki, Forum Box and HAM Helsinki Art Museum. The work has been added to the art collection of the City of Helsinki, which is curated and managed by HAM. The commission was made possible by the Percent for Art Principle, which funds the majority of Helsinki’s public art. The winning work was commissioned by the City of Helsinki’s Urban Environment Division and HAM was the art expert and coordinator for the commission.