Arts & culture

Inspiration and influences: 12 artists in Finland talk about life and creativity

On a fascinating journey of discovery, we visit an array of Finland-based artists to find out what ideas animate and inform their work.

Arts & culture Webpick

Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen to receive 2024 Polar Music Prize

Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will be awarded the 2024 Polar Music Prize on May 21 in Stockholm, Sweden. The second recipient this year is long-time music-industry mainstay Nile Rodgers.

Arts & culture Circus

Finland’s first circus professor unites many art forms under a big tent

Live video, virtual reality, archery: Finnish circus is going in directions you probably never imagined as a kid. And now circus art has a professor, too.

1987

The year Design Forum Finland started promoting Finnish design

Arts & culture Culture

In the far north, Siida shows a Sámi view of how nature and culture go together

Hundreds of kilometres above the Arctic Circle, the Siida Sámi Museum and Nature Centre portrays the culture of the Indigenous Sámi people and the diversity of the region’s flora and fauna.

Arts & culture Television

Filmed in Finland: Nordic noir shows regular people in irregular circumstances

The term Nordic noir describes Nordic crime fiction in literature and on television. The genre typically includes attributes such as realistic crimes, strong women and rainy November weather. We hear from a producer about what makes it special.

1970

The year Ruisrock, Finland's oldest (and Europe's second-oldest) rock fest, was founded

Arts & culture Photography

Receiving polished pictures from Finnish photographer Pentti Sammallahti

At K1 in Helsinki, insightful, compassionate pictures of people, trees and animals by Pentti Sammallahti show why he’s one of Finland’s best-known photographers. (Article includes photo show.)

Arts & culture Film

Love’s labour isn’t lost in Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves

Aki Kaurismäki, Finland’s most famous director, came out of retirement to make Fallen Leaves, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes. His 20th feature film is a love story.

Arts & culture Nature

Finnish photographer Meeri Koutaniemi goes to the source

Wherever she roams, award-winning photographer Meeri Koutaniemi draws strength from Finnish nature – and never stops looking for that perfect tree to climb. Our article includes a small selection of her impressive photography.

3.2 million

Amount of saunas in Finland

Source: Finnish Sauna Society