10.12.2025

Kunsthalle Seinäjoki announces new exhibitions for the summer and fall 2026

Exhibitions for the Summer and Fall 2026 invite us to rethink human experience of time and heritage

In June 2026, Kunsthalle Seinäjoki will open Contamination of Time, a group exhibition curated by Erich Berger. Contamination of Time displays works that tell stories of distant stars, the slow formation of landscapes and the inevitable end of life in a deep future.

In September 2026, Kunsthalle Seinäjoki will open Forms of Heritage, a solo exhibition by painter J.P Köykkä. In the Forms of Heritage Köykkä is rethinking his own relationship with his roots. Large scale paintings reflect Köykkä’s relation with his hometown and history of abstract painting.

Future monument by artist Andy Gracie, a futuristic looking cone shaped object with round black appendages protruding from its sides.

Expanding the Horizon of the Present

Contamination of Time/ Ajan saastuminen is a group exhibition curated by Erich Berger. The exhibition is on display 13.6.2026 – 9.1.2027 in Kunsthalle Seinäjoki’s exhibition space Halli.

In The Contamination of Time / Ajan saastuminen, you are invited to embark on a journey that unsettles familiar notions of time. At the heart of the exhibition lies the acknowledgment that the future is not a distant, fixed horizon but shaped in and by the present. What is to come is always already contaminated by what is at hand.

The artworks within The Contamination of Time remind us that we inhabit a world shaped imaginaries. They call for attentiveness to time and our capacity to respond.

The exhibition encourages visitors to reflect on how their actions are entangled with time and their environment, and to recognize their agency in shaping futures. If we can imagine countless catastrophes and the end of the world, why shouldn’t we also imagine a world we wish to live in?

Artists

Petri Ala-Maunus (FIN), Laura Beloff (FIN), Andy Gracie (UK/SP), Katri Naukkarinen (FIN) and Aurora Del Rio (IT/ENG), Elsa Salonen (FIN), Emilia Tikka (FIN), Oula A. and Leena Valkeapää (FIN)

Curator

Erich Berger is a curator, artist, and researcher based in Helsinki. He works at the University of Oulu in Finland, where he studies art that responds to the current environmental conditions through the lens of anthropology, geology and art.

The exhibition opening will be held in conjunction with Kalevan Navetta’s Summer day on June 12, 2026.

Artist J.P Köykkä standing on a ladder painting a big and colorful abstract artwork in his studio space. 

Back to Roots

J.P Köykkä’s solo exhibition Forms of Heritage presents new large scale paintings, video works and installations by Seinäjoki based artist. The exhibition is on display 5.9.2026 – 6.2.2027 in Kunsthalle Seinäjoki’s exhibition space Vintti.

J.P Köykkä constructs the exhibition in a site-specific manner. The boundary between what is painting and what is spatial structure becomes blurred. Ultimately, the question becomes irrelevant. The painting takes over the Vintti-space. The space becomes a painting. The viewer can literally step inside the painting.

Forms of Heritage offers an overview of everything that can make up the painter’s practice. The past is a heritage that is transformed into forms of painting. In his works, JP Köykkä explores what his legacy consists of. What is the local visual heritage of Seinäjoki? Köykkä’s work is influenced by history of abstract painting and the region’s history of graffiti art. The forms are unrestrained, they spring from the street but find their home almost anywhere.

Artist

J.P Köykkä (b. 1987) lives and works in Seinäjoki, Finland. He holds a BA degree from Tampere University of Applied Sciences in Visual Arts. His works are included in collections such as Finnish National Gallery, State Art Deposit Collection and Tampere art Museum.

The exhibition opening will be held in conjunction with Kalevan Navetta’s Night of Phenomena (Ilmiöiden yö) cultural event on September 4, 2026.

Kunsthalle Seinäjoki

Kunsthalle is showcasing art exhibitions and offering a varied programme of other events. The charming exhibition space and multidisciplinary community at the Art and Culture Centre Kalevan Navetta provide a framework for a visionary contemporary art programme. Kunsthalle Seinäjoki draws inspiration from the story of the building as well as the themes and issues arising from the countryside – both in South Ostrobothnia and globally.

Find out more about the venues and programme choices.

Press / media 

Press photos will be updated to: http://bit.ly/STpressikuvat

 

More information and inquiries:

Laura Laukkanen, Art curator

tel. +358 40 774 8560
laura.laukkanen(at)seinajoki.fi