News

4.11.2026 The City of Tampere will commence landscaping and construction work in the area of the 1918 mass grave memorial at Kalevankangas cemetery in October 2026. Name plaques for those buried in the mass grave will be added in the area, and minor landscape work will be carried out. In addition, a new commemorative plaque will be installed in front of the old memorial.

3.11.2026 The prize exhibition of Roope Itälinna (b. 1990), the Young Artist of the Year 2026, opens on Saturday 31 October 2026. The paintings of Roope Itälinna, who lives and works in Turku, combine the precision of photorealism with a minimalist sense of space, creating a charged atmosphere in his works. Tampere Art Museum is organising the exhibition in the Weaving Halls in the Finlayson Area due to the museum’s renovation and new-build project.

5.6.2026 The Art Realm ’26 Biennial, a major contemporary art exhibition produced by the Tampere Art Museum, will open in Tampere on 13 June 2026. The biennial presents contemporary art at the Finlayson Area and throughout the city centre, as well as at the Haihara Art Centre in the Kaukajärvi district.

26.5.2026 A public artwork commissioned under the Percent for Art principle has been completed for the new Ahvenisjärvi School. Sculptor Kalle Mustonen was selected as the artist for the two-part work. Mustonen modeled a large boulder that had stood in the schoolyard and created two wooden sculptures based on it, one placed in the school lobby and the other outdoors. The outdoor sculpture is believed to be the largest public wooden sculpture in Finland.

11.5.2026 The exhibition presents five works from the Nordea Art Foundation's collections by Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946). Schjerfbeck is regarded as one of the most esteemed figures in Finnish art and a pioneer of modernism. The works span nearly her entire artistic career, offering glimpses into its different phases. The spiritualized portrait Silence (1907) comes to the exhibition from the Helene Schjerfbeck exhibition held at The MET in New York.

28.4.2026 Three public artworks from the Art Realm ’26 biennial will appear in central Tampere even before the official opening of the visual arts biennial. Starting from May Day, passersby will be surprised and delighted by Ilkka Virtanen’s imaginative sculpture Homo Nepenthes Mangrove, installed in Tammerlampi.

27.4.2026 Night of the Museums event is taking over Tampere once again, offering plenty to see and experience on Saturday, May 16, 2026. With an event wristband, you can visit 25 venues, see over 100 program items, watch spectacular performances, and participate in workshops. The program runs from 6 p.m. until midnight, and you can travel between venues on Night of the Museums buses.

15.4.2026 A landscape painting by visual artist Germund Paaer (1881–1950) has been returned to Hyhky school following extensive conservation work. The large-scale painting, originally commissioned as a stage backdrop, belongs to the City of Tampere’s collection and was completed in the early 20th century. Paaer is known as the first chief designer of Kalevala jewelry, as well as a graphic artist and an enthusiast of ethnography.

24.3.2026 A public sculpture belonging to the collections of the Tampere Art Museum, Siimankatkoja (1973) by Veikko Haukkavaara, will be removed from its current location on Wednesday, 25 March 2026, due to construction work related to the new local detailed plan for the Koukkuniemi and Rauhaniemi area. The artwork depicting a fish has been located near the shore of Lake Näsijärvi, in the yard area of the Koukkuniemi nursing home.

9.3.2026 Art Realm is a joint initiative of three regional art museums that organizes a contemporary art biennial rotating between different cities. The next biennial, organized by Tampere Art Museum, will open on 13 June 2026. Through an open call, 39 works by nearly 80 artists were selected. The theme of the biennial, TOGETHER, extends from the content and visual language of the artworks to working methods and collaboration with partners.

6.2.2026 The collection exhibition Encore! offers audiences a unique opportunity to experience works by significant classical artists alongside compelling contemporary art. Spanning all three floors of the museum, the exhibition presents works from the collections of the Tampere Art Museum and the City of Tampere by nearly 90 artists, ranging from the 1810s to the 2020s. On display are paintings, sculptures, prints, photography, and media art.

23.1.2026 Visual artist Roope Itälinna has been selected as the Young Artist of the Year 2026. He will receive a €25,000 grant awarded by the City of Tampere, as well as the opportunity to present a solo exhibition at the Tampere Art Museum’s exhibition space in the Finlayson area in autumn 2026. Itälinna is the 42nd artist to receive the Young Artist of the Year award.