OULU.- As part of the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture year, the new ten-day festival features a rich programme of professional and public events, bringing art together with technology and science through immersive exhibitions, light and sound art, performances, talks and seminars across the city Opening on 13 November. Bjrk will bring three audiovisual installations to Oulu, following their debut in Reykjavk: Ancestress, Sorrowful Soil and Bjrk Orkestral. The programme also features exhibitions by international artists and institutions including Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Josefina Nelimarkka and Fotografiska Tallinn.
Lumo Art & Tech—a new ten-day international festival exploring the intersection of art, technology and science—unveils the programme for its inaugural edition, unfolding across 16 cultural venues and outdoor locations throughout the city. The programme spans immersive exhibitions, light and sound art, digital and media art, audiovisual performances, talks and seminars led by artists, researchers, curators and technology experts.
Among the key highlights is an exhibition by Icelandic artist Bjrk, presented alongside PLAY by Fotografiska Tallinn at Pekuri Shopping Centre. The exhibition brings together three audiovisual works, combining sound, moving image and spatial installation. Ancestress and Sorrowful Soil were composed and arranged by Bjrk in honour of her mother. Bjrk Orkestral is presented as a dedicated listening experience in Genelec’s listening room. The exhibition opens on 13 November and runs until 31 December.
The programme also includes works by international artists Jakob Kudsk Steensen and Josefina Nelimarkka. Steensen’s The Kuutar Garden transforms the underground Kivisydn car park into a virtual botanical world inspired by the Botanical Garden of the University of Oulu and endangered plant narratives. Nelimarkka’s Arctic Clouds combines mist, glass, water and ice with real-time climate data from Oulu and Arctic research stations. At Oulu Cathedral, British-German artist and creative technologist Andrew Melchior’s The Logos transforms more than 4,000 cosmic signals into spatial audio.
Centred on light, sound, digital and media art, the festival incorporates three further festivals: Lumo Light Festival, the new TAR Festival, and FLASH5 Light Art Biennial. Oulu’s new waterfront venue Tarkastamo will host audiovisual performances by international artists including Halina Rice, Riccardo Giovinetto, and Ida Toninato and Pierre-Luc Lecours, alongside Finnish artists including the BUCOLIC—Cultural Machines collective.
The professional programme brings together international and Finnish interdisciplinary practitioners through Lumo Talks and AVARA Art & Tech. Lumo Talks features keynote speeches from Takashi Kudo of teamLab and Michelle Rocha of Factory International, with themes including the Future of Work, Sustainability and the Art of Innovation. AVARA, organised by Oulu University of Applied Sciences, explores emerging technologies through talks, discussions and workshops under the theme of Space, with contributors including Chimerik and neurotech artist Roel Heremans.
Taking place as part of Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture and supported by the City of Oulu, Lumo Art & Tech builds on Oulu’s established Lumo Light Festival and its longstanding connection between technology and the arts. In 2023, Oulu joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Media Arts.
