Five-year-old Valoilmiö invites the entire city to experience light art – The award-winning festival is created together with children and young people
Hämeenlinna will light up once again from 12 to 14 November, as the Valoilmiö festival celebrates its fifth anniversary. Over the years, the festival has grown into an award-winning, participatory city event, with approximately 1,500 children and young people participating in the creation of light art installations annually. This year, Valoilmiö will spread across city centre parks and historical buildings, shining all the way to Tuulos.
Valoilmiö is an urban festival focusing on light and art, which has received several accolades during its first five years, particularly for its participatory approach. The festival has been awarded the Mayor of Hämeenlinna’s Innovation Prize (2023), the Horizon working group’s Audience Engagement Award (2023), and the Association of Children’s Cultural Centres in Finland’s Children’s Cultural Act recognition (2025).
At the heart of Valoilmiö is the idea that art belongs to everyone and that residents have the right to be visible in the urban space. This year, approximately 1,500 children and young people from early childhood education, schools, and hobby groups are involved in creating the festival’s works together with professional artists and art educators.
Organised for the fifth time, Valoilmiö brings renowned light artists, large-scale light installations, immersive performances, and opportunities to participate to Hämeenlinna. As usual, the festival venues include the surroundings of Hämeenlinna Market Square, Sibeliuksenpuisto, Pinellanpuisto, Ystävyydenpuisto, the City Hall, the Verkatehdas area, the bus station, and Tuulos.
Church projection reflects children’s perceptions of beauty
The surroundings of Hämeenlinna Market Square are once again one of the festival’s central venues. Projected onto the facade of the church is video artist Eira Enkvist’s Salamaailmoja (Secret Worlds), where children’s thoughts and experiences of beauty are transformed into light, images, and sounds.
On the wall of the Regional State Administrative Agency, Matt Fillion’s Värilotto (Color Lotto) will be displayed, where the audience can change the colours of the large building’s facade themselves. Playful participation continues at the Market Square with the Pig Farm installation, where children can hop on the backs of colour-changing canister pigs for a ride.
Two glass containers shine at the Market Square, showcasing Light Animals created by HIL hobby groups during the autumn. Additionally, visitors can try out various light games and capture festival moods at the selfie point.
The City Hall fills with light and music
Hämeenlinna’s historical City Hall opens its doors to light art and performances. In the ballroom, light artist duo Juha and Oliver Rouhikoski present Taivaanreikiä (Holes in the Sky), which contemplates light finding its way through the darkness. In the work, light is neither permanent nor certain, as sometimes even the holes in the sky vibrate.
Live music will be heard in the ballroom every evening. On Thursday, Ismo Savimäki’s choirs will perform; on Friday, pupils from the Sibelius Academy and Tango King Juho Punkeri will take the stage. The musical experience on Saturday will be provided by the vocal ensemble Hehku.
A BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) projection exhibition spreads to other areas of the City Hall, where video artists’ works take over even the most surprising corners of the historical building. In the festival workshop, visitors can craft butterflies that glow in UV light.
Figures from the past come to life in Pinellanpuisto
In Pinellanpuisto, visitors experience a breath from the past as internationally renowned Alexander Reichstein brings his historical figures to the site in the form of the work They Were Here (article image). Life-sized figures, bent from steel wire that glows in UV light, bring the townspeople of a bygone era into modern-day Hämeenlinna.
Reichstein’s work invites the viewer to complete the story with their own imagination. Who were these people? What kind of animals lived in the city in the early 19th century? Did the marchioness have a poodle? The works come to life in interaction with the viewer.
A whole cosmos of light created by children’s hands
The Loistoluokka project, coordinated by Open Cultural Centre ARX and co-funded by the EU, brings two impressive works to the festival, created through collaboration between the project’s light artists and children.
Suvi Saastamoinen’s Vaarallinen karkulainen (Dangerous Fugitive) transforms plastic waste from the food industry into a fairytale-like but slightly threatening invasive species vine that winds around lamp posts. The beautifully glowing work serves as a reminder of the fragility of nature and human impact on the environment.
In Sibeliuksenpuisto, the audience can step into the middle of a universe created by children. Veikko Lappalainen, known from the Flowers of Life light art collective, presents Pienten käsien Kosmos (Cosmos of Small Hands), built from geometric shapes painted by children that spread around the viewers as a glowing UV-light ensemble.
Children’s handiwork can also be seen in the installations in the windows of the former City Hall and ARX, as well as in Pinellanpuisto and on the facade of Verkatehdas.
Light art in exhibitions provokes thought
This year, Valoilmiö includes two light artist exhibitions in its programme.
Galleria ARX features Anna Hyrkkänen’s Beyond Light, which explores the ever-changing self-image of humans and the environment’s influence on it. The exhibition is based on the idea of complex networks of the brain and neurons and their functioning, like a microcosm. The exhibition also includes a functional section designed by ARX art educators, exploring the interaction of colours and shapes.
At the bus station, Immanuel Pax’s exhibition Lux Pax 1 highlights social issues such as alienation, the control of urban space, and the history and present of the exercise of power. The exhibition gets a head start on the festival and is open throughout the Valoilmiö week from Tuesday to Sunday, 3 PM – 9 PM. Outside the bus station, the joint work Import / Export Finland by Pax and the art stream students of Kauriala Upper Secondary School will be displayed, examining the image of Finland abroad and what we want to showcase about Finland.
Pedal car carousel glows in UV light – Tuulos gets its own Valoilmiö
In Ystävyydenpuisto, the youngest members of the family can enjoy a very special ride as the park transforms into a pedal car carousel glowing in UV light. The ensemble combines an installation element created by the Flowers of Life group with pennants by Kettuki artists and pedal cars decorated by Tavastia students. Music, colours, and moving lights create an experiential environment where children become part of the light installation themselves.
Valoilmiö does not stay only in the city centre; this year it also spreads to Tuulos. All pupils of Tuulos Comprehensive School participate in creating a joint light installation. The work will be on display on Friday, 13 November, when other light-related programming will also be organised at the school. During the evening, the fire group Flamma will perform in the schoolyard, and a group of local actors will help build the light splendour of Tuulos.
The fifth Valoilmiö festival culminates in the Light Caravan on Saturday evening
In five years, Valoilmiö has shown that light art can be much more than just works to be looked at. It can be about doing and experiencing together, and an opportunity to see one’s own city in a completely new light.
The festival culminates on Saturday evening with the Light Caravan, which travels from Open Cultural Centre ARX to Hämeenlinna Market Square at 6 PM. A large number of spherical lanterns have been created for the procession in school classes and family workshops. The caravan’s cast of characters will also include impressive giant puppets familiar from previous years. Additionally, light animators from the Belenos group will be seen at the Market Square on Saturday.
Valoilmiö will be held in Hämeenlinna from 12 to 14 November 2026. The festival is produced by Open Cultural Centre ARX together with its extensive network of partners.
The main partners are the Hauho and Renko Savings Bank Foundations, Tavastia Education Consortium, the Parish of Hämeenlinna, and Torvinen Showtekniikka.
Open Cultural Centre ARX produces Children’s Cultural Services in Hämeenlinna and is responsible for the production of the Valoilmiö festival.