16.6.2025
The City of Seinäjoki’s Summer Artist 2025 has started her artistic work in Seinäjoki!
Artist Emmi Kairenius’ summer in Seinäjoki
The ninth Summer Artist of the City of Seinäjoki Cultural Services is Emmi Kairenius from Rovaniemi. The summer post, organized by the Kunsthalle Seinäjoki, gives the artist a chance to make artistic work and the public a way to get to know different ways of making and experiencing art.
Emmi Kairenius will work during the summer from 2.6. to 3.8.2025. The summer job organized by Kunsthalle Seinäjoki gives the artist the opportunity to do artistic work and the citizens a way to get to know different ways of making and experience art. 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.
The Summer artists at the main library in Seinäjoki. Photo by Emmi Kairenius
Spot the summer artist
You can identify the summer artist by a vest that says Summer Artist (kesäkuvataiteilija) at the back or a white overall jumpsuit.
- Seinäjoki summer events and festivals. The summer artist can also be spotted in different summer events in Seinäjoki.
- Play trip to the city, Finnish Visual Arts Day 10.7. at 17:00 at Kalevan Navetta. Join us for an open play excursion to explore the urban environment through experimental play.
- Department of Urban Play, Kalevan Navetta, every Wednesdays in July. The Department run by Karenius will open at the Kalevan Navetta, offering up-to-date play tips for different locations in the city, as well as other expert services and activities to guide experimental play. Open every Wednesday in July from 11am to 3pm, free admission.
- Kalevan Navetta Afterwork Art evenings on 4 July and 1 August. The Afterwork Art event on 4 July offers a unique opportunity to explore the summer city with a late-night play excursion for adults, and on 1 August a video review of the entire summer’s urban play experiences, documenting Kairenius’ artistic work in the urban environment of Seinäjoki.
- Seinäjoki urban environment. The summer artist can be spotted exploring everyday environments by embodied and repetitive engagement. The place of play can just as easily be a railway station staircase, a library bike rack or a random light pole.
Emmi Kairenius
Emmi Kairenius (b. 1993, Sammatti) is a visual artist based in Rovaniemi, Finland. Through her artistic practice, Kairenius explores the daily urban environment and public space. Her work is characterized by embodied and repetitive engagement with the surroundings—through observation of change, collecting found objects, and playfully interacting with elements of the city. Her works are public performative processes that at times take the form of video, photography, or installation. Kairenius earned her Master of Arts degree from the University of Lapland in 2024 and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in art. She has participated in exhibitions and, alongside working in gallery contexts, has been actively engaged in process-based art situated in urban environments.
About the Summer Artist
Each summer since 2017, City of Seinäjoki has hired a visual artist or visual art student to work as the Summer Artist. The Summer Artist, “Kesäkuvataiteilija” in Finnish, works for two months with their own independent artistic project. The idea is to create something that is visible to the local community or has participatory elements. The Summer Artist works at the Kunsthalle Seinäjoki and has the resources and support of the team and the Cultural Services of Seinäjoki. The theme of the project is different each year but there is always a strong emphasis on participatory and process-based work-methods and temporary public art.
Follow the project and artist:
Follow the Summer Artist in social media channels on Facebook and Instagram during the summer. On the channel you can also access projects realized by Summer Artists from previous years. In addition, Kunsthalle Seinäjoki and City of Seinäjoki will share news about the Summer Artist in their own social media channels.
Summer Artist: https://www.seinajoentaidehalli.fi/en/projects/
Instagram: @kesakuvataiteilija
Website: https://www.instagram.com/emmikairenius/
Download press photos: Press photos
More information:
Emmi Kairenius, The Summer Artist, The City of Seinäjoki, emmi.kairenius@seinajoki.fi, tel. +358 40 716 7741
Pii Anttila, Art Producer, Kunsthalle Seinäjoki, pii.anttila@seinajoki.fi, tel. +358 44 425 5823
