In 2026, the Photo North galleries found in Cultural Centre Valve will offer three exhibitions per gallery. In addition, Photo North is participating in the Oulu Capital of Culture project and is organizing an international group exhibition for the Oulu Art Museum, Adaptation – Time is not on our side, towards possible futures, filling the second floor of the museum.
The first exhibitions of the year are a sort of counterpart to nature and its exploration. In the main gallery, artist collective nabbteeri’s mutant and fragile (2020-) is related to the artist collective’s work with invertebrates and awakens the viewer to sense the immediate environment, the life teeming around it, and its disappearance from the perspective of other species of organisms.
nabbteeri is an artist collective that has been operating since 2008, whose diverse and media-based works are based on more or less messy interactions between artists and other objects. In temporary works that are created on the conditions of the place where they are made, various surpluses, found materials, borrowed objects, 3D animations and other crafts overlap in the space and slowly change their shape. https://www.nabbteeri.com
In the Foyer Gallery, Ville Rinne reflects on his exhibition Nature of Science on how humans strive to understand nature: “While newspapers report on the melting of polar ice caps and record-breaking wildfires, a researcher studying the distribution of a daphnia species stares into a fist-sized puddle in Tvärminne. He has done this every summer for decades. Two hundred kilometers to the north, a researcher from the Finnish Meteorological Institute measures the carbon dioxide bound by biomass in Hyytiälä. A third researcher examines the retreat of the Arctic treeline in Utsjoki.”
Since 2016, Rovaniemi–based Ville Rinne has photographed everything related to research, including researchers, fieldwork, materials and research sites. He has also collected visual materials related to research over the decades. Rinne will begin working on his doctoral dissertation on narrative in post-documentary photography at the University of Lapland in 2025. https://villerinne.com/
The summer exhibition, which opens in May, is a group exhibition that celebrates the exceptional open hours of the Valve Cultural Centre during July. Curated by freelance curators Katie Lenanton and Farbod Fakharzadeh, the group exhibition features artists from outside Europe who critically reflect on the status of the city of Oulu as the Capital of Culture in 2026, as well as related ideas about national and European identity and the myths of nation-states. The exhibition develops the idea of a space where utopian dreams and dystopian realities meet through social practices and expanded photography. Each artist’s works create a dialogue in relation to other artists, but also to the photography centre’s audiences. The exhibition space features humor and experimental curiosities that explore prejudices and vulnerabilities. The artists in the exhibition are: Phan Nguyen, Vinayak and Yujie Zhou.
Katie Lenanton has an MA in Curating, Mediating, and Managing Art from Aalto University. Since 2003 she has worked within, outside of, and counter to institutions, aiming to understand, corrupt, and change their ways of working. Foremost, she believes in curatorial responsibility—creating conditions that make people want to continue working together. She strives to practice this curatorial responsibility, and foster an accountable curatorial ethics, which has been actively developed in her role as co-founder of Feminist Culture House, an intersectional feminist organisation based in Helsinki since 2018.
Farbod Fakharzadeh is a Helsinki-based artist and curator who has been active in the Finnish and international art scene for the past 15 years. His work deals with memory, history and politics, especially from the perspective of hospitality, collectivity and political imaginations and dreams. In 2023–2024, Fakharzadeh was a curatorial residency at the Helsinki International Artist Program (HIAP), where he led the Inside/Outside micro-exhibition project, exploring themes and boundaries between public/private, history/memory and personal/political. Fakharzadeh graduated with a Master of Arts degree from Aalto University’s Visual Culture, Curating and Contemporary Arts Master’s Programme in 2018.
Phan Nguyen is a Helsinki-based visual artist, performing artist, producer and community facilitator. Nguyen’s artistic work moves between lens-based art, installation and performative gestures. His works examine various practices related to home and domesticity from queer and diasporic perspectives, exploring memories, dreams, fantasies and a sense of belonging through a socio-political lens. Nguyen’s works have been exhibited at, among others, the Finnish Museum of Photography, the Political Photography Festival, Outo Olo Gallery, Titanik, Myymälä2, etc. E.g. https://www.pvf.fi/Phan-Nguyen-Eng
Vinayak’s research-based artistic work is strongly based on material findings, collectivity, the politics of archives and the construction of knowledge. He is mainly interested in exploring the luminous medium, its possibilities, delusions and promises, which the artist deconstructs and explores mainly through the creation of a photographic art book and exhibitions. Vinayak is currently completing his Master’s degree in Photography at Aalto University.
Yujie Zhou is a Helsinki-based visual artist who works with expanded photography, textile works, moving images, installations and publications. Through performativity and the decoded concept of language, she seeks to question dominant historical narratives and power structures in her practice, while simultaneously renewing collective individuality. She graduated with a Master of Arts from Aalto University’s Photography Program in 2023. Her works have been exhibited at, among others, the Museum of Finnish Photography, the Photographic Center in Peri and the Photographic Gallery Hippolyte. https://yujiezhou.xyz/
In the Foyer Gallery, Panu Johansson reflects on the changes in the northern landscape. The exhibition is realized using mosaic-like Polaroid-based photographs, in which Johansson is fascinated by their processuality, uniqueness, lo-fi aesthetics and historical uses.
Rovaniemi-based media artist Panu Johansson works with moving images, photography and sound. His works feature themes of memories, landscape, experimental film history and cultural history. Johansson prefers film materials and found footage in his work. He also produces the soundtracks for his works himself. Johansson’s works have been exhibited at various festivals, events and exhibitions since 2000. In addition to his artistic work, he is actively implementing various contemporary art events in the Northern region, both in Finnish Lapland and abroad. Johansson graduated with a Master of Arts from the University of Lapland in 2014. https://panujohansson.com/
The last exhibitions of the year in the galleries focus on intimacy, home and the co-existence of humans and animals. Hertta Kiiski’s exhibition Bloomrotmilk considers growing together and relationships with other species through love and care. Kiiski’s works are spatially sensitive installations in which photography, moving images, space and presence are intertwined. She pays special attention to the encounter between the works and the viewer and to thinking about the body relationship of the installation. In Kiiski’s exhibition, intuition, intimacy, playfulness, humour and mysticism come to the fore – she builds worlds where the dazzling and dizzying nature of existence intersects with processes on a planetary scale.
Hertta Kiiski is an artist based in Turku, whose works dream of a new kinship between the human and the inhuman, the organic and the inorganic, transforming existing hierarchies. Kiiski’s works live in a precarious state between daydreams and restlessness, and many of her works are made in collaboration with her dogs and daughters. Kiiski graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki in 2015, and her works have been widely exhibited in galleries and museums in Finland and abroad. https://www.herttakiiski.com/
In the Foyer Gallery, Lyy Raitala explores the coexistence of humans and animals in the built environment through staged photography in her exhibition Nesting. The work examines the interspecies rituals of nesting and settling – their differences, similarities and layers. Nesting appears as a survival strategy but also as an intimate gesture that unites humans and animals – as a need to protect themselves, to find a rhythm and a place to be. The work moves between control and surrender, care and instinct, structure and chance, pondering who really builds and for whom.
Lyy Raitala, a Finnish and Dutch-based photographic artist, plays with the boundaries between reality and dreams in her artistic work, combining constructed photography, video and sound in her work. She uses absurdity as a means of storytelling and is interested in how the world of work can be given both humorous and eerie features through staged photography and video works. Raitala’s work focuses on addressing social issues through fantasies and myths. Raitala graduated with a Bachelor of Photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague (2024). https://lyyraitala.com
In addition to the exhibitions in Photo North’s Galleries, Adaptation – Time Is Not On Our Side, Towards Possible Futures -exhibition opens in October on the second floor of the Oulu Art Museum. Adaptation focuses on major global changes and their local impact. The project ponders how ecological, social, cultural and technological changes are occurring in the Arctic Circle and Europe – and what new perspectives and strategies we need to adopt as we adapt to inevitable change. Who or what should adapt: humans or nature? Who eventually lays out the rules?
The artists of the exhibition are Matti Aikio, Erich Berger, Michele Boulogne, Elina Bry, Jaakko Myyri, Arttu Nieminen and Maija Tammi. The curator team behind the exhibition are head curator Antti Tenetz and curators Taija Jyrkäs and Darja Zaitsev from Photo North. As part of the exhibition process, Boulogne, Bry and Myyri will spend residency periods in Northern Finland. Boulogne and Myyri at research stations, where the artists will be able to utilize research data in their future works created for the exhibition. Bry has worked in Ii among the locals. Read more about the Adaptation project here.
Michèle Boulogne (b.1996, Martinique) is an artist living and working in the Netherlands, working in the field of textile art. At the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Boulogne continues her work linked to space, force fields and their phenomena alongside identity and cultural memory. Since 2024, Michele has been an active member of the Venus Conversations collective, which brings together the fields of culture, science and art. Venus Conversations is a project that will continue until 2034, creating dialogue and artistic productions around the planet Venus. The artist’s previous work Venus does not exist (2021) focuses on making visible the planet Venus, which has remained mysterious, by considering how technology shapes our collective image of inaccessible landscapes and technical data. Boulogne’s works combine various textile techniques such as weaving, dyeing and knitting in a collage format. He draws inspiration for his work from Caribbean heritage and space exploration, and uses them to explore fragmented history, overlapping temporalities, and great natural forces.
Glasgow-based artist Elina Bry works with lens-based art and performance. In her residency at Kulttuurikauppila, Bry explores the relationship between humans and nature in our time of climate anxiety and climate change. The final result, found in the exhibition Adaptation, addresses the topic through moving images, sound and performance. Bry also aims to bring the voices and feelings of local people about nature to a larger audience. As half-Finnish, Bry has a strong relationship with Finnish nature, which she has also addressed in her previous work Is The Earth Chronically Ill? (2023-2024). Elina Bry has previously held residencies in, among others, the UK, Australia and Vietnam.
Jaakko Myyri (b. 1991, Oulu) is a Dutch-based artist whose work focuses on the intersections of identity and environment. Myyri works primarily with sculptures and code. He explores how language functions as a force for responding to the decay of systems – moving beyond technological critique towards alternative ways of building tools and subject formation. Myyri uses machine learning and decommissioned equipment, such as industrial air conditioners, in his works, which he uses to create sculptures and immersive installations. During his residency at the Oulanka Research Station, Myyri is working on a work in which emotional states are transformed into atmospheres, utilizing research data from the sensitive subarctic region. He graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2018 and his works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions at places such as LINZ FMR (AT), NEVERNEVERLAND (NL), PuntWG (NL), Het Nieuwe Instituut (NL), Uncut at the Stedelijk Museum (NL) and Noblesse Collection (KR).
Matti Aikio is a Sámi artist with a background in reindeer herding. His work explores the intersections of modern Western societies and Indigenous worldviews, particularly in their spatial and temporal perceptions. Aikio is especially interested in the conflict over natural resources, which stems from fundamentally different relationships to nature between Indigenous peoples and dominant societies. His practice combines moving image, sound, text, and photography. He has addressed themes such as the Sámi truth and reconciliation process, cultural appropriation, and Sámi self-determination. In the Adaptation exhibition, Aikio examines the use of modern technologies in Indigenous livelihoods. He graduated from the Academy of Contemporary Art in Tromsø in 2012. His work has been exhibited at the Sápmi Triennale (Norway, 2024), Helsinki Biennial (Finland, 2023), Västernorrlands Museum (Sweden, 2023), and the Barents Spektakel festival (Norway, 2021).
Erich Berger is an artist, curator, and doctoral researcher based in Helsinki, conducting interdisciplinary research at the University of Oulu. His dissertation explores how artists approach temporality beyond the human timescale, integrating anthropology, geology, and art. Throughout his career, Berger has investigated the materiality of knowledge and the intersection of science, technology, and art. His current focus lies in deep time and hybrid ecologies, working with geological and radiogenic processes while examining their socio-political implications. In the Adaptation exhibition, Berger presents his ongoing work “Spectral Landscapes” (2021–), which explores these themes. His work has been widely exhibited at museums, galleries, and major media art events such as Ars Electronica (Austria, 2009), File Festival (Brazil, 2010), Sonar (Spain, 2008), and the Venice Biennale (Italy, 2007).
Arttu Nieminen is a media artist from Rovaniemi whose work often begins with formal play—symmetry, horizon lines—and expands into Arctic fragility and prophetic imagery. Flowing nature footage, poetic narration, and minimalist soundscapes collide with brutal montage in Nieminen’s distinctive audiovisual language. His video art has been exhibited in museums, galleries, cinemas, and also in public projections and events. Nieminen is completing his MA at the University of Lapland. His works have been shown at Kiasma (2022), the Venice Biennale (2022), and the Mänttä Art Festival (2019). He is currently preparing a solo exhibition at the Rovaniemi Art Museum (2025).
Maija Tammi is a Finnish artist and Doctor of Arts whose photo and video works investigate boundaries between mortality and immortality, science and art. Known for her radical storytelling, Tammi employs a playful approach—what she calls speculative poetry—to address central societal issues and anxieties. In the Adaptation exhibition, she revisits her work “Milky Way” (2015), which explores intersections between the cosmos, Greek mythology, and human existence. Prior to her artistic career, Tammi worked as a photojournalist. She earned her doctorate from Aalto University in 2017. Her works have been exhibited internationally in Paris (2020, 2021), Berlin (2018), Rome (2017), London (2017, 2018), New York (2015, 2016), and Tokyo (2017), and she has published five books.
An immersive piece is released at the same time during Adaptation: VOID – Wild Aesthetics (2026) (Antti Tenetz, Laboratory Albedo Oy).
Who were we, where are we now, and where are we heading?
By recognizing what already exists, we can begin to perceive what does not.
What kinds of speculative horizons are we reaching toward?
The work combines local human and environmental knowledge with global satellite and research data. Utilizing spatial depth and extended reality (XR), the installation unfolds through site-specific narratives. The piece adapts to multiple formats—deep space installations, projections, light works. Themes intersect art, science, ecology, and technology, spanning viable habitats from Kármán line limits through Earth’s thin biosphere to Arctic territories and Europe’s geological depths.
Adaptation is part of the Official Oulu2026 Programme as Oulu is the European Capital of Culture in the year 2026.
Picture taken from nabbteeri’s exhibition mutant and fragile.
16.1.-26.4.2026
Photo North, Gallery: nabbteeri: mutant and fragile
Photo North, Foyer Gallery: Ville Rinne: Nature of Science
9.5.-30.8.2026
Photo North, Gallery: Exhibition curated by Katie Lenanton and Farbod Fakharzadeh, artists Phan Nguyen, Vinayak & Yujie Zhou
Photo North, Foyer Gallery: Panu Johansson
5.9.-23.12.2026
Photo North, Gallery: Hertta Kiiski: Bloomrotmilk
Photo North, Foyer Gallery: Lyy Raitala: Nesting
16.10.2026-14.2.2027
Oulu Art Museum: Adaptation – Time is not on our side, towards possible futures
