HELSINKI.- HAM’s 2025 exhibitions and the major contemporary art event Helsinki Biennial will showcase non-human beings, painters through the decades, Tove Jansson’s monumental artworks, Ars Fennica 2025 candidates, and the French visual artist Marguerite Humeau’s multi-sensory sculptural visions predicting alternative futures.

Free 90
April 25, 2025–January 4, 2026

The Free Art School’s anniversary exhibition showcases the school’s 90-year history and its importance in the development of Finnish painting and modernism. The goal is to capture the school’s spirit that unites its nine decades. Curated by art critic Timo Valjakka, along with HAM’s curator Satu Metsola, the exhibition features 60 work by 40 artists from 1935 to the present day.

Tove Jansson: Frescoes and Magician’s Hat
April 25, 2025–January 4, 2026

Tove Jansson’s frescoes Party in the Countryside and Party in the City are permanently on display at HAM. The frescoes will now be joined by Jansson’s last monumental artwork, painted in 1984 for the Taikurinhattu kindergarten in Pori. This three-part mural depicts the Moomins adventuring through the spring, summer, and autumn landscapes of Moominvalley. The exhibition is curated by HAM’s Heli Harni.

Helsinki Biennial 2025
June 8–September 21, 2025
Press preview day June 5, 2025
Professional preview days June 6–June 8, 2025

Helsinki Biennial showcases around 35 artists or collectives from Finland and around the world. Roughly half of the featured works will be new commissions premiering in Helsinki. The biennial spreads across three venues: the unique maritime setting of Vallisaari Island, Esplanade Park in the heart of Helsinki, and HAM Helsinki Art Museum’s premises at Tennis Palace. Helsinki Biennial 2025 is curated by art historian, curator and HAM’s Head of Exhibitions Kati Kivinen, and curator, art historian and researcher Blanca de la Torre.

The theme of the biennial’s third edition, Shelter, takes inspiration from the habitat of Vallisaari Island, which has been preserved from human habitation for decades. The biennial reflects on the fragile relationship between humanity and the natural world. Moving beyond human-centric perspectives, the biennial seeks to forge new spaces of protection and inspire positive environmental action.

Ars Fennica 2025
October 24, 2025–March 15, 2026

The group exhibition of the candidates for Finland’s most significant visual arts prize will fill HAM’s large arched gallery. The candidates are Ragna Bley (NOR), Roland Persson (SWE), Jani Ruscica (FIN) and Hanna Vihriälä (FIN). The winner will be chosen by Mami Kataoka, Director of the Mori Art Museum and the National Center for Art Research in Japan. The public can also vote for their favorite. The exhibition is curated by HAM’s Heli Harni.

Marguerite Humeau
November 21, 2025–March 15, 2026

HAM’s 2025 programme will conclude with a solo exhibition by Marguerite Humeau. Her ambitious exhibition unfolds as an imaginative landscape of installations in HAM’s grand gallery. Her organic, sculptural works are brought to life through light and sound. The works resonate and connect across times and places, vibrating with the rhythms of different worlds. Curated by HAM’s director Arja Miller, the immersive, multisensorial exhibition marks Humeau’s first presentation in Finland.

HAM gallery

HAM gallery showcases topical and new contemporary art. In 2025, HAM gallery presents seven exhibitions from emerging artists.

HAM’s collection and public art

HAM manages art conservation, curation, public art commissions, and acquisitions for Helsinki’s art collection, which includes over 10,000 artworks. Over 2,000 pieces are displayed in public and semi-public spaces such as libraries, daycare centers, schools, and locations like the newly renovated Finlandia Hall. The collection also features more than 500 site-specific public artworks. In 2025, new works, including the City of Helsinki’s major investment, Olafur Eliasson’s light installation, will be added around the city.

Continuing from 2024

Tove Jansson—Paradise until April 6, 2025
Tori Wrånes: BIG WATER until April 27, 2025
Bambi Forever! until October 26, 2025