2.7.2025

Department of Urban Play

Department of Urban play

The Department, run by the Summer Artist, is open to visitors every Wednesday during the MUU summer programme at Kalevan Navetta in workshop space Itikka. The programme includes a video screening of play tips in the centre of Seinäjoki, testing of experimental play equipment, and a play tour to the architecture and surroundings of Kalevan Navetta, open to all. All ages are warmly welcome at the Department of Urban Play.

The Department is open on Wednesdays in July from 11am to 3pm.

Background on the Department of Urban Play

What kind of agency could the city offer if it was led by an artist? The Summer Artist believes that a playful perspective is part of the artist’s craft. So, in July the Summer Artist will run the Department of Urban Play at Kalevan Navetta, offering experimental play tips for different locations in the city, as well as hands-on exercises and excursions.

What does the Department of Urban Play do? You can come to the Department to watch videos of the Summer Artist testing a weekly changing urban play site, or to test how chance affects play. Could you draw lots for a play object or play equipment? Sometimes we put on our protective overalls and move around Kalevan Navetta exploring the possibilities of play. We test what kind of movement a light pole invites, or how many people can fit in a parking space (head down). The services offered by the Department of Urban Play are always adaptable to the individual player. No age limit! Young children with a parent.

Summer Artist

Emmi Kairenius (b. 1993, Sammatti) is the ninth Summer Artist of the City of Seinäjoki. This year’s working period is 2.6. – 3.8.2025. During the summer, Emmi Kairenius will carry out an art project in which she works as the official professional playmaker of the City of Seinäjoki. In this role, she explores possibilities of the play in Seinäjoki’s built environment through embodied participation—by engaging in playful interaction with the city’s structures and elements. For Kairenius, play is a way to perceive everyday surroundings in a new light and to test alternative ways of experiencing places. She invites the local community to take part in experimental play through open-to-all excursions into the built environment. In July, the Department of Urban Play, maintained by Kairenius, will open at Kalevan Navetta. The Department provides the latest play tips for various city sites and other consultancy toward experimental play. Throughout the summer, the professional playmaker can be encountered not only at the Department of Urban Play at Kalevan Navetta’s summer events, but also around the city in everyday environments.

Arrival at Kalevan Navetta 

Address: Nyykoolinkatu 25, 60100 Seinäjoki. The main door of the building is located on the side of the courtyard between Kalevan Navetta and Itikanmäki residential buildings. Kalevan Navetta can be reached on foot or by bicycle via Vaasantie or the Lakeuden aamunkoi bridge over Pohjan Valtatie.

There are about 50 parking spaces for customers around Kalevan Navetta. The first two (2) hours are free with a ticket from the machine or the parking app, and the following hours cost 1 €/h. The nearest public parking is located on Maakunnankatu, approximately 700 metres from the building. On busy event days, we recommend using other means of arrival instead of a car or parking in the Maakunnankatu parking area if necessary.