Kirkkokatu 2a, Oulu City Hall
Realisation: Gala Stage (EST)
In collaboration: Osuuskauppa Arina

Shadows start creeping on the wall of Oulu City Hall. Soon the building bends, twists and swells, until a crack appears. The architecture gives in and nature breaks out from within the walls. The building that is so familiar to the people of Oulu is now filled with water that comes flooding out. Slowly it starts snowing and the building freezes up. The piece is realised with impressive video mapping technique, in which the illusion of a living world is created on the facade with powerful projectors.

Oulu Museum of Art, 2nd floor, Kasarmintie 9
Realisation: Mirka Kortesoja

Half in Me workshop is an inclusive and multi-disciplinary arts entity. Participants get to paint their faces and hands in a UV-lighted and soundscaped space. Suitable for all ages – children under the age of 10 can attend with a parent. The workshop operates on a non-stop basis. The space accommodates a limited number of participants at a time.

Prunnitori Square
Realisation: Jani Pitkänen, Riku Rousu & team
In collaboration: Fingersoft

Lähde is a unique lay-by with two spaces for three days covering four seasons. It brings nature into the urban darkness as liquid light through five fresh, visualised musical performances.

Lähde is open every day between 4 and 10 p.m. Tuba’s pop-up coffee shop serves refreshments and warmers throughout the evening.

Music shows Fri and Sat at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. and Sun at 6, 6.45, 7.30 and 8.15 p.m. The visuals show and soundscape are on also between the performances.

Check out more specific information about the artists online at ouka.fi/lumo.

Performance schedule

FRI
6 p.m. SPRING Mechanic Membrane
7 p.m. SUMMER Joonatan Aaltonen & Olli Niemitalo
8 p.m. LIQUID LIGHT The Botherers

SAT
6 p.m. AUTUMN Kas Kan
7 p.m. WINTER Lasse Tapio Junnila
8 p.m. LIQUID LIGHT The Botherers

SUN
6 p.m. SPRING Mechanic Membrane
6.45 p.m. SUMMER Joonatan Aaltonen & Olli Niemitalo
7.30 p.m. AUTUMN Kas Kan
8.45 p.m. WINTER Lasse Tapio Junnila)

Mannenkatu 4
Realisation: Matthieu Tercieux & Cart1

Sessions daily at 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 p.m. (duration 30 mins). At other times, visitors can try making light graffiti by themselves. Instruction available on site.

Light Spray is a device born from the collaboration between programmer Matthieu Tercieux and street-artist Cart1. By means of tools hijacked from the universe of video games, such as the wiimote controller, the artist can create graffiti paintings directly through video projection. Hence we rediscover sensations and effects similar to spray painting.

Realisation: Artur Grycuk (POL)
In collaboration: Lehto Asunnot

Previously a college, the building is being transformed into apartments and now gets a new pulse under the treatment of Polish light artist Artur Grycuk. You can experience the installation at its best from the Åström Park, where also the accompanying music provides a refreshing detachment from the ordinary.

Realisation: AlexP (NED)
In collaboration: Lehto Asunnot

MAPP is a video mapping system designed by its creator, Dutch programmer Alex Prooper. The installation makes a scan of its surroundings and instantly creates an abstract, moving video mapping of the subject. Festival visitors can become part of the colourful, projected artwork that changes every time.

Snellman Park
Realisation: Oulu University of Applied Science, Department of Culture
In collaboration: OP Oulu

202020 Inverse is a journey into the world of codes that emotions and colours entail. What do they communicate? The interactive showcase is realised as a joint piece between the sectors of music, dance and media, and it is part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Department of Culture at OUAS. Come and influence the content of the artwork! Follow the journey on the event’s Facebook page 202020 Inverse and with the hashtag #202020inverse.

Director: Petri Kauppinen
Producer: Milla-Maija Kemppainen
Visual set design: media students, Petri Kulju and Nina Patrikka
Sound and music: music students, Jussi Tuohino
Dance: dance students, Petri Kauppinen and Milla Korja
Light technician: Jari Haavikko
Assistant light technician: John Collingswood

Restaurant Puistola
Realisation: PROTO - Pohjois-Suomen muotoilijat ry

What happens when five Finnish jewellers are given free hands in designing a chandelier? Their only limitation is that they must use their own jewels and the chandelier must also function as a light fixture.

The audience has a unique opportunity to see what happens when creative artisans challenge themselves. The chandeliers are on display on the big windows of Restaurant Puistola.

The following jewellers are participating:
Kaima Design
Namia Design
Design by KIETO
OOOZAdesign
NIKAMA Design

Saaristonkatu 22
Realisation: Oulu2026 project in collaboration with Oulu Writers’ Society

Oulu20206 project asked 20 writers from Oulu Writers’ Society to tweet 26 tweets during one year. The tweets formed a unique 20x26 piece of art that describes the very nature of Oulu. Lumo Light Festival presents a part of these tweets projected onto the wall of the Frog Building.

Oulu Museum of Art, Satula space
Realisation: Oulu Dance Hack

4–9.30 p.m., performances on the hour (doors closed, duration 30 mins). Installation available for exploration between performances.

Oulu Dance Hack is an annual event that brings artists from around the world to Oulu to explore the connections between dance and technology. This year, local lighting companies provide the artists with some equipment to use. The artists will have five days to create installations and short performances for Lumo Light Festival.

Oulu Castle Cellar, Linnansaari 1
Realisation; ATT-Ensemble
Direction and script: Matti-Pekka Heikura
Masks and effects: Mikko Heikura
Music: Kimmo Nieminen
On stage: Marita Jääskö

According to ancient Finnish mythology, forest blanket is a state in which a person is taken by an elf, a goblin or a magpie and disappears from the reach of other mortals – between and beyond tuffets, mosses and lichen-covered trees. It means getting lost, breathing, and finding one’s own path in tranquility. It is in the forest that we find our deepest desires, our most insightful ideas, our worst fears and our strangest encounters.

Forest blanket is a narrative journey that draws its themes from ancient Finnish mythology. It combines elements of chiaroscuro technique and mask theatre.

All the shows are free of charge. A limited number of seats available. Pre-booking via e-mail to att.ensemble@gmail.com.

Friday 22 Nov at 7 and 10 p.m.
Saturday 23 Nov at 1, 3, 7 and 9 p.m.
Sun 24 Nov at 3 and 5 p.m.
Duration: approx. 45 mins

All around the festival area
Realisation: Lentoi Films Oy, Acke Salo & Julian Owusu
Dancers: Julian Owusu, Anniina Jääskeläinen, Taru Turpeinen, Aappo Pääkkölä

The peculiar light figures move around by dancing, popping up here and there, in the strangest of places. The amaze, exhilarate and disappear as quickly as they appeared. Who knows where they will pop up next?

Light design: Ramboll Finland / Valostudio
Landscaping and electrical design: Ramboll Finland
Commissioner: City of Oulu, Urban and Environmental Services

The Mannerheim Park has been renovated to meet the needs of small to medium-sized events and users of all ages. Now the park has been fitted with dynamic special lighting that is changeable according to events and seasons, along with other engineering that the events need. Besides the lighting, the park is equipped with jets of water rising from the paving. In the winter, these jets will be replaced by protective structures shaped like blocks of ice.

During Lumo Light Festival, the park will be a venue for dancing to the beat of special lighting and music. Different dance styles and periodic trends together with the dancing audience create a new venue for Oulu city centre. The installation makes use of the audiovisual system built in the park, welcoming all lovers of light, music and dance!

Designer: Kaisal Poikela (Oulun Energia Oy) and Veera Sanaksenaho (Urban and Environmental Services)
Commissioner: City of Oulu, Urban and Environmental Services

The landscape lighting emphasises the wonderful trees, structures and fixtures by the dam bridge and the fish ladder. In the twilight, the viewer can discern the parallel stone benches looking toward the estuary. The passage lighting along the route by the waterline has been renewed, and the old boat-towing wharf is highlighted with brooks rippling in the background. The old stone structures at the wharf communicate the history of the area, when empty tar boats were being towed upstream along the channel.

Deisgner: Henrika Pihlajaniemi, Arkkitehdit m3 Oy
Commissioner: City of Oulu, Educational and Cultural Services

An architectural competition for the summer theatre pavillion in Hupisaaret was arranged in 2013. Halo Arkkitehdit Oy’s design called Arborea was selected for further development. The renewed theatre was completed before summer 2019, and several different theatrical companies have adopted the venue as their own since. Architect Henrika Pihlajaniemi has designed the programming for the lighting that creates the mood for evening landscape in the park in different situations and season, highlighting the commendable architecture of the theatre itself.

Kurtinhauta nature and culture path, Luotsiasemantie 83, Martinniemi
Sat 24 Nov at 3 p.m., village and path lighted on 24–25 November
By Martinniemi Village Society, Maakinen Martinniemi, Cultural Centre Valve and Aura OK.

On the Pölökkypää path in the coastal woods of Kurtinhauta, you can meet Pölökkypää sculptures and wind chimes made from recycled materials. They bring peculiar nuances to the soundscape of humming wind, rushing sea and tinkling ice. At the path’s opening event, the story of Pölökkypää characters is narrated by means of verbal art and music. The village society serves coffee and warm juice at an outdoor fireplace. Along the path, there is the Anchor of Hope where anyone can bring their own candle in memory of those who have gone away to distant lands. Tulikukka fire show at 4 p.m.

Oulu Art School, Nuottasaaritalo, Isokatu 94 (Yard at Kirkkokatu end of the building and windows of visual arts classrooms)
Realisation: Oulu Art School
22–24 Nov daily between 4 and 10 p.m.
Fri 22 Nov 5–8 pm: Arts workshop where participants can make their own fuzzy reflector.

Magical Forest is a camping trip to unreal nature. Students of visual arts at Oulu Art School have built and painted a Magical Forest next to Nuottasaaritalo and on the windows opening to the yard. You can peek in through the classroom windows and into the depths of the Magical Forest where trees and plants crisscross. Nature comes to life in the glow of UV lighting. At the same time there is a party going on at the Art School. So do not be surprised if you bump into lively students of dance, circus or theatre in the Magical Forest, too.

Timosenkoski Nature School, Timosenkoskentie 44
Realisation: Open day-care centre Heikinharju, Timosenkoski Nature School and outdoor play school of Korvensuora day-care centre
Sat 23 Nov, 4–6 p.m.

The starry road starts in the yard of Timosenkoski Nature School (Timosenkoskentie 44) and ends in a wondrous world of lights in the yard of Heikinharju day-care centre (Heinkinharjuntie 50). Head out with all the family and follow the missing pieces of a star – you might gain access to a secret world of lights! There you can make light art, try to catch an elf in the shadows and see how hard your family will laugh in the giggling tunnel. Dress warmly and bring along flashlights and some snacks or sausages to grill, if you like.

Odessa Park, Mielikintie
Realisation: Puokkaritalo, Kulttuurivoimala ry
22–24 Nov

The Mystery Forest invites families to the surroundings of Puolivälinkangas water tower. See and hear what the camping expeditions find and discover for example in the world of animal characters at the water tower. The world of lights, sounds and characters for the Mystery Forest has been created by Puolivälinkangas residents’ association, Kulttuurivoimala and schools in the near area. The stories of Mystery Forest will remain online also after Lumo Light Festival: www.puokkari.fi/mystinenmetsa

Log Pavilion, The University of Oulu main entrance, Linnanmaa Campus, Erkki Koiso-Kanttilan katu
Designer: Participants of OSAaValo lighting design education, instructed by Henrika Pihlajaniemi, University of Oulu, School of Architecture
Funding: European Social Fund ESF and the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of North Ostrobothnia and South Savo.

With the help of dynamic lighting, the light installation studies the dualistic essence of wood: trees as natural living organisms forming space in a forest and timber as industrially processed but traditional Finnish building material, which creates architectural interior and exterior spaces. The installation is designed and produced in a workshop organised by Oulu School of Architecture as part of the project OSAaValo – Northern Attraction from Lighting Know-How. The installation is opened in connection with LUCI Oulu City Under Microscope event.

Lumo Light Festival Oulu was celebrated for the fifth time in 2017. The theme of the festival was “Encounters”. Visitors came across astonishing encounters in familiar environments, in virtual worlds, and with characters from the past painted with lights. The festival lightened up the darkest days of the year and created stunning views, strange appearances and performances that enabled the audience to see their environment with new eyes.

The weekend 17–19 November was the main weekend of the festival, during which the works of European guest artists and groups were exhibited and most of the festival events were kicked off. The works and events of the main weekend were on display mostly in and around downtown Oulu.

The program continued until Finland’s centennial independence celebration on 6 December. The light artworks with their different shades of blue on the last week of the festival were part of the official Finland 100 programme in Oulu.

Once again, the Lumo Light Festival also left a long-lasting impact in the cityscape with permanent light installations.