TEK.VILLAGE is an Oulu2026 project that will transform Teknologiakylä through site-specific art interventions. It will culminate in a three-day exhibition and event from 11-13 September. Three open calls are now inviting creatives to get involved.
Open Calls
TEK.VILLAGE is an Oulu2026 project transforming Teknologiakylä through site-specific art interventions. It will culminate in a three-day exhibition and public programme from 11-13 September 2026. Three open calls are now live, seeking artworks, performances/activations, and contributions of prompts for site-specific art/research.
Find out more by clicking the links below!
Call for Performances and Activations
Call for Contributions to Publication: Toolkit for Site-Specific Activations
About TEK.VILLAGE
The Technology Village (Teknologiakylä) in Oulu, Finland, is a significant environment for technological research, innovation, and future-oriented work. By day, it is a dynamic hub for scientific and technological development, bustling with human activity and ideas of progress. By night, it transforms into a space reclaimed by more-than-human life. This contemporary “non-place” is characterized by its glass façades, parking lots, bus stops, green spaces, dining areas, and the multitude of technological tools and innovations being developed within it.
Oulu is the European Capital of Culture for 2026, and TEK.VILLAGE is part of the Oulu2026 cultural programme and its vision for cultural climate change. There is a growing need to expand cultural activity beyond traditional institutions and city-centre venues into the spaces where people live, work, and move through their daily lives. The Oulu2026 programme emphasizes cultural vitality, accessibility, sustainability, and the activation of everyday environments. Teknologiakylä represents an ideal site for this ambition, and TEK.VILLAGE seeks to demonstrate how art can transform a familiar workplace into an unexpected site for creativity, reflection, and encounter. By pushing the boundaries of exhibition-making and collaborative artistic practice, the project reveals the untapped cultural potential of this unique environment through art, technology, ecology, and community.
Revitalization Through Artistic Vision
From 11–13 September 2026, TEK.VILLAGE will temporarily transform parts of Teknologiakylä into shared cultural spaces through a site-specific pop-up exhibition. Artists are invited to develop new works in response to the area and to reflect on the relationships between technology, ecology, everyday life, and more-than-human coexistence.
The project embraces a fluid and organic working relationship with participating artists, grounded in mutual support, transparency, and genuine collaboration. In doing so, TEK.VILLAGE aims to challenge traditional exhibition models; emphasize the importance of time, space, play, and community within artistic practice; promote sustainable approaches to art-making; encourage meaningful thematic exploration; and foster deeper connections between artists, audiences, and the environments they inhabit.
The project also highlights the potential of public outdoor “non-places” as sites for artistic experimentation, public engagement, and dialogue around technological and ecological futures. By developing a transparent, care-based working model between organizers, artists, local partners, and the wider public, TEK.VILLAGE contributes to the long-term cultural vitality and resilience of Oulu while exploring new possibilities for art in everyday environments.
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