260

Oulu2026 Countdown

260

Oulu2026 Countdown

Lumo Art & Tech

Autumn 2026

A ten-day international festival of art and technology, showcasing a variety of art and technology encounters at multiple venues, from light art and sound art to diverse forms of digital art.

The brilliance of art and technology in Oulu

The Lumo Art & Tech Festival will expand in November 2026, centering around the much-loved light festival, bringing together art and technology in a spectacular way. This exciting event will put Oulu on the map as a leading Northern European city for art and technology.

The festival will welcome creative professionals from the digital art and technology sectors worldwide, with a range of seminars, conferences, and other inspiring events. Oulu offers a wealth of artistic experiences, as well as ample opportunities for networking. Audiences will be fully immersed in the fascinating world where art and technology intersect.

Taking place across multiple venues, with the heart of the festival in Oulu’s city centre and at the Linnanmaa campus, the event is organised in collaboration with the City of Oulu, the University of Oulu, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, the Oulu Museum and Science Centre, and various private sector partners.

Lumo Art & Tech programme

Beyond the Sky, kuva Jukka-Pekka Metsävainio.

Beyond the Sky

An innovative work blending art, science, and technology, bringing distant nebulae within reach. Inspired by the life’s work of Oulu-based astrophotographer Jukka-Pekka Metsävainio, the piece is elevated by music by Lauri Porra.

Beyond the Sky brings the beauty and mystery of the cosmos closer, offering fresh perspectives on the universe and humanity’s connection to it.

Kuvituskuva, kuvaaja Jenina Boström

AVARA Art & Tech Event and Testbeds

AVARA is the annual flagship event of the Oulu University of Applied Sciences’ Arts Innovation research program bringing together a unique interdisciplinary community of art, culture and tech professionals with a focus on the intersection of arts, innovation, emerging technologies and social impact.

During the AVARA project a testbed environment where art and culture professionals can experiment with emerging technologies in artistic work will be created.

Saana Volanen / Ohimennen / FLASH4 biennaali 2024/ kuva: Mikko Vares

Light/Dark Matters

The Finnish Light Art Society brings to Oulu the fifth edition of the exciting FLASH biennale, which highlights the pinnacle of Finnish light art and new artists. The inspiring program ensemble invites you to dive into the cultural meanings of light.

Program is an invitation to all learn more about light art, its evaluation, curating and writing about it. At the same time, it makes you think whether the extreme variations of northern light and darkness could have a special value? How has it been coped with before, and could we maybe learn something from that for the future?

Underground Clash (working title)

Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen is creating a living, immersive world beneath Oulu city centre, where memories of past local landscapes converge with the de-extinction seed vault of the Oulu Botanical Garden.

The exhibition is presented through projections, light, and a hyper-spatialised sound system, deep beneath Oulu city centre in Kivisydän, originally built in 2015 as a car park and civil shelter. Set in a cavernous space behind massive blast doors, the exhibition parallels the seed vault beneath the Oulu Botanical Garden, tar that preserves against decay, and the artwork’s own journey through time.

The programme will be updated throughout 2025.

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