For ten years, I curated and organized outdoor art exhibitions together with Helsingin Energia/Helen – and for the last years also Helsinki Artists’ Association – on distribution boxes in certain streets of Helsinki.

In the beginning of the 00’s, the idea of an art gallery outside, in town, came to my mind and became important. The city is covered with pictures – on bus stops, on tram stops, along the streets and roads. But all the pictures belong to the same category: it is the commercial advertisement that completely rules the visual space of the city, at least when it comes to two-dimensional pictures.
The art pictures have for many years looked for ways to come out of the traditional galleries. Art pictures has longed for a place where they can meet the living city, the public, the people.

Through the project, by choosing art works by Finnish artists and printing them on sustainable plexiglass, twelve energy distribution boxes on Museokatu were covered with graphic art, twelve boxes on Eerikinkatu with photo art, and likewise twelve boxes on Fleminginkatu with drawings. Later, through a city celebration, also Unioninkatu joined the project.

My own part of this project was choosing the theme of the year’s show, choosing the artists and art works, and coordinating the project, the contacts between the artists and the energy company. New openings were celebrated once a year, and became part of the Helsinki Festival.

Now the cooperation has ended and no new shows are coming up, but most of the plexi-artworks are still out there to be enjoyed by strollers. I was also permitted a prize, Vuoden Taideteko /ArtHelsinki 2013, for this project.

All in all, over a hundred Finnish artists took part in the project, and as said, some of the works are still to be seen in the streets of Helsinki.