Cool contrasts
Oulu is the kingdom of great contrasts – positive, but also challenging. Contrasts such as the nightless nights of the midnight sun and sunless days in the heart of winter. Contrasts have the power both to connect and disconnect, but also to create something new.
Cool Contrasts is about rebalancing our communities. There is already a recognised European need to use culture as a means to help reduce health inequalities. Oulu2026 will work with our citizens and with European partners to develop cultural practices that promote positive engagement to re-balance these inequalities. People are literally dying of loneliness in parts of Europe, both in big cities and in struggling rural hinterlands.
Oulu2026 wants to help Europe to reconnect with itself, promoting community life and face-to-face connection and exploring mental wellbeing through sensitive and thoughtful projects.
How do we learn to better understand each other? What new and surprising connections can we create and nourish? We can listen, appreciate, be curious, supportive and interested in each other. Let’s celebrate our differences in the city of contrasts!
Programme Lines
Each of the three programme themes include programme lines which enable us to group connected projects together to maximise synergy and impact.
Art <3 Tech
Every day, nearly three billion people use mobile technology developed in Oulu. The city has long been a pioneer in technology research, product development and start-ups – and now it wants to take over Art&Tech. The models used to produce the culture of the future will increasingly utilise a hybrid strategy, a combination of virtual and physical experiences.
Dark Matters
No one has such an intimate relationship with light as us northerners. Acknowledging the dark and harvesting the light for health
and well-being.
Oulu Calling!
Celebrating the city’s resilience and power of reinvention as an inspiration for the future. We want to explore our local identities through outsiders’ eyes, and be surprised by what we discover about ourselves.
Latest
The Sound of the North route takes you through the different eras of popular music in Oulu
“The Sound of the North – tracing the origins of popular music” is a digital story route that can be experienced throughout Oulu using your own mobile device. The permanent route, which will be published on 10 April, is part of the Oulu region’s journey towards...
Open Call for the ARToulu art area
The European Capital of Culture 2026 brings us Oulu’s new ARToulu art area, where art will pop up and surprise you in unexpected places. Dozens of installed artworks will change the face of the Oulujoki estuary’s seven city neighborhoods, turning them into interesting...
Baseline for the evaluation of the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture is published
The Centre for Cultural Policy Research Cupore explores and evaluates the next Finnish European Capital of Culture – Oulu2026. The English version of the report describing the baseline of the assessment in 2022 has now published on Cupore's website. The report shows...
CULTUR€ – Matching with Busine$$
Do you know how culture and art can be used to produce and increase the value of companies? Cooperation with culture and creative industries creates new opportunities to develop your company’s business, products and services. It is also a good way to reach new...
The artist for the third Oulu2026 mural is being sought in a Europe-wide open call
Artists participating in the open call can send their portfolios from March 27 to April 17 of 2024 and the selected artist will receive an invitation to work in Oulu's Myllyoja next summer. Upeart is implementing a series of murals in the Oulu region as part of the...
The Tales of Tar route expands to the surroundings of the Oulujoki river
The Tales of Tar route that can be experienced digitally on mobile devices around Oulu is getting three additional stories. The route is expanding along the Oulujoki river with events that took place in Muhos, Utajärvi and Vaalaa. In November 2023, Oulu2026 published...
Oulu August Festivals to produce the culmination of the summer’s end in 2026 – Delta Life spectacle
The Oulu Culture Events Association, coordinating the Oulu August Festivals, has entered into an agreement with the Oulu Culture Foundation for a major event to take place during the European Capital of Culture year. The climax of the Delta Life project will occur at...
Solstice Festival 2024: Art program – Open Call
Solstice Festival invites artists to partake in a celebration of light and life in the mesmerizing landscapes of Rukatunturi. Solstice is a gathering for people who enjoy music, art and nature, preferably combined. It takes place during midsummer (20.-22.6.2024) in...
Artists for the first Sápmi Triennale announced
For the first few months of Oulu’s European Capital of Culture year 2026, the Oulu Art Museum will be transformed into a museum of Sámi art. Combining contemporary Sámi art and duodji, traditional Sámi handicrafts, Sápmi Triennale will be one of the main attractions....
Open call for young artists for the Delta Life Project
Oulu August Festivals are looking for promising emerging artists from the Oulu2026 region for the documentary series “Artists Arise in the Delta” for the years 2024–2026. The open call lasts until the end of February 2024, and the selections will be made during March. Five artists/groups will be chosen based on the applications.