The bridge's enclosed underpass tunnels will serve as pop-up art venues. The piece playing under the bridge will change every now and then, according to the schedule of the pop-up art programme.
The underpasses are also being equipped with installations for light art. In the future, the underpass will not only carry sound but also light, and video artworks may be installed.
Stämma
The performance is available from 7 November to 7 December 2025
- Mon-Sat 7-11am and 6-10pm
- Sun 10am-6pm
- The performance culminates every 30 minutes at 7.15am, 7.45am, 8.15am etc.
About the work Stämma
STÄMMA is the result of a cross-artistic collaboration between artist Sandra Nyberg and musician-composer Mikko Perkola. The site-specific sound work draws on the historical and geographical landscape of Turku.
The meeting of these sounds creates a work that establishes a dialogue between sea and land, nature and culture, and the history of Turku's living soundscape.
Sandra Nyberg is a visual artist working with site-specific works. Her works blend into their surroundings while exploring local cultural, political, sociological and/or historical contexts.
Mikko Perkola has worked with his instrument, the viola da gamba, in some of the world's most renowned centres of high culture and with musicians at the forefront of their field. Perkola enjoys challenging existing structures and finding new ways of expressing his skills. Collaborations between different artistic disciplines have provided opportunities to use the instrument in a versatile and experimental way and to perform in alternative spaces.
They both live in Korppoo, in the Turku archipelago.
Previous works of sound art
About the work
Kaikkein tärkein asia? (The most important thing?) is a documentary audio work by the participatory arts centre Framil, with interview material collected in Turku during the spring and summer of 2025.
The work got its start when community artist Veera Lehtola worked as an artist in hospice care, listening to the most important things in people's lives, values and experiences. The question arose, do we have time for the most important things in the middle of life? What is most important for a child, an unemployed person, a father of a new family, a pensioner, a person with mental health problems? What matters most to all of us together? And when do we have time to be there?
"In everyday life, I'm good at ignoring, preserving, avoiding, thinking, this is important but not right now."
The most important thing is a polyphonic conversation. Dialogue is about resisting polarisation, embracing conflict and pluralism. Listening is about opening up to uncertainty. No one can decide alone. We are here together. What is important is shared.
"Nothing of significance can be done alone. People say they can do it alone, when it takes two people before you even exist."
The work also challenges passers-by to listen. It creates a space to pause and open your heart in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life and everyday life.
Produced by Framil ry/applied art space, Pop up Turku
Concept, interviews and direction by Veera Lehtola
Narrated and sound by Henri Kivistö
Readers: Veera Lehtola, Asta Lehtola, Sampo Parkkonen, Seija-Leena Salo, Hannu Seppälä, Laura Sillanpää and Lempi Sillanpää.
Hurja joki (The Wild River) is a multi-artistic whole, consisting of a story, poems, musical fragments and soundscapes on the banks of the Aura River.
The event tells the story of the wild years of Turku's culture - the fruits of collaboration, atmospheres, great personalities and what the River Aurajoki has given and meant to our artists. Life goes on in everyday life in a city where people have lived, worked, sailed boats, driven Föri, traded - and loved. The communal experience is the overarching theme of the whole show.
We will be joined by poets Tapani Kinnunen and Timo Lappalainen, who will perform poems of their own choosing. We will also hear readings from past masters Markku Into and Jarkko Laine.
The performance will travel through the ages - through the underground, punk and other phenomena of Turku - towards the moments when the pulse of the city was defined by events such as Down By The Laituri. It all comes together to create a unique timeline.
Hurja joki is the brainchild of the Risk Group Cultural Association, which aims to explore the distinctive cultural activities that began in Turku and its surrounding municipalities in the 1960s, to bring them to the forefront of our consciousness and to connect them to the present day.
The city of Turku will soon be 800 years old. To celebrate, an audio work was created for all Turku residents to listen to. A daily sound experience, under the Aura Bridge.
The work consists of works by four local poets about life in Turku. They are Juha Kulmala, Ahmed Zaidan, Helki Kallio and Mats Newman. The languages are Finnish, Swedish and English.
The music will be performed by the HIPPU ensemble, a group of international musicians based in Turku:
- Janna Novák/vocals
- András Novák/drums
- Joni Kärki/percussion
- Shaafi Saikh/bass
- Antti Sorsa/keyboard
- Kalle Kanerva/guitar
One of the works under the bridge is an ear poem, which was created from discussions at the Cultural Promise workshops.
The ear poem concept was created by the Turku-based literary artist Veera Vähämaa, and the sound play based on the poem was produced by Tehdas Teatteri. It plays between the other works.
The sound art experiment is implemented by the City of Turku's Cultural spearhead project and the Urban Environment Division.
