HELSINKI.- City of Helsinki’s and HAM Helsinki Art Museum’s most extensive public art project to date, Olafur Eliasson’s Long daylight pavilion, is now open in Wiirinkallio, Kruunuvuorenranta. The contemporary art event Helsinki Biennial, open June 8 – September 21, also presents Eliasson’s large-scale artwork, Viewing machine, which is being featured on Vallisaari Island.


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Long daylight pavilion is a site-specific artwork that marks the sun’s path through the sky above the city of Helsinki on the summer solstice. Curated by HAM Helsinki Art Museum, the light installation is inspired by time, the sun, and the geographical location of Helsinki. The artwork highlights Kruunuvuorenranta’s profile as the district of light art. Long daylight pavilion is Olafur Eliasson’s first public artwork in Finland.

“It’s a great honor for me to see my work Long daylight pavilion occupy such a key position in this forward-looking new area of Helsinki. I hope that it will rapidly become an attractive destination for residents of the neighborhood, connecting them to the world by gesturing to the path of the sun at this location. And for those viewing it from the city as a bright light across the water, I hope that it offers a point of orientation on their horizon,” states artist Olafur Eliasson.

“As Mayor for Culture, I’m proud that Helsinki is making such a significant commitment to public art through Olafur Eliasson’s work, and as a Kruunuvuorenranta resident, I’m thrilled that our light art district is gaining a magnificent new landmark. I’ve been watching the piece take shape by the shore during my morning commute and have already gone to admire it after dark. The Percent for Art works curated by HAM make Helsinki a more pleasant city for us residents to live in and a more attractive place to visit,” comments Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure Paavo Arhinmäki.

“Long daylight pavilion is a meaningful piece for HAM and the entire city of Helsinki in many ways; it is a massive investment on public art and highlights the connection between Helsinki Biennial and public art. This artwork by Olafur Eliasson has been in the making for Helsinki for a long time, and the collaboration also opened doors to experiencing his art on Vallisaari. At their best, HAM’s projects complement each other just like this, resulting in astonishing and thought-provoking art experiences for both local and international audiences,” says HAM’s director, Arja Miller. 

The artwork Long daylight pavilion consists of twenty-four poles, embedded directly into the bedrock. The poles form an open, spacious ring that extends from the land into the water. The height of the poles were determined by tracking the path of the sun as it appears from the site on 21 June, the longest day of sunlight during the year. The shortest pole, which indicates the lowest point of the sun on the solstice, is situated at the north side of the circle, and the tallest – reflecting the location of the sun at its zenith – is in the south. Viewers can use the work as a kind of compass to orient themselves to their surroundings and in relation to the Earth.

The artwork will be completed at the time of year with the longest period of daylight. However, the light installation will reveal its full brilliance in the dark, when lanterns shine out of the poles through diamond-shaped apertures that become increasingly open towards the tops. Here, they culminate in single points of bright light. Together, these points of light produce an angled ring that matches the sun’s path. For residents of the Kruunuvuorenranta neighborhood, the artwork appears as a softly glowing beacon within an attractive waterfront park. As the bright lights at the top of the poles are oriented towards Central Helsinki, to the west, the artwork appears in the city like a lighthouse shining across the dark water. People approaching from the bridge glimpse the lights foreshortened into changing ellipses, whereas from particular angles, they may appear as a single luminescent ring hovering in the distance.

Viewing machine

Running concurrently, the Helsinki Biennial will be open June 8 – September 21. As part of this contemporary art event, Eliasson’s large-scale artwork, Viewing machine, has been installed on Vallisaari Island. This work takes the form of an optical device inspired by traditional seaside viewing instruments. As visitors rotate the artwork, it's kaleidoscopic interior refracts the island’s landscape into dynamic, geometrical patterns comprised of multiple, converging fragments.


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