2014-2015

The Next Helsinki – idea competition

Launched in 2014, the international Next Helsinki idea competition will continue to elevate discussion on the future of cities and museums, art and urban development.

The competition was initially launched to seek alternatives to the Guggenheim Helsinki project, and to call upon fresh perspectives on the future of Helsinki. The next steps will be a publication and an exhibition that will be seen in Helsinki and New York. 

Over 200 entries from 43 countries were submitted to the competition, which ended in April 2015. Being a call for ideas that will link contemporary art to public space in new ways in comparison to traditional museum buildings, the competition received significant attention from the international media. 

The jury selected a short list of eight proposals, among them a Museum of the Welfare State, and a labyrinth of piers that provides the residents and visitors of Helsinki a place to rest by the sea.

“Checkpoint Helsinki has invited an advisory group to consider how the proposals could be used when planning the future of Helsinki”, says Eva Neklyaeva, director of Checkpoint Helsinki.

Members of the advisory group are art educator and urban activist Eeva Astala, journalist Minna Joenniemi, publisher and politician Tuomas Rantanen, composer and visual artist Timo Tuhkanen, architect Inari Viral and visual artist Timo Wright.

More about The Next Helsinki and all the competition entries are here.

Contact: Terike Haapoja, Tel. +358 50 405 8341, mail@terikehaapoja