Nuoret 2026 (Young artists 2026) exhibition will showcase the latest art by artists under the age of 35 at Kunsthalle Helsinki in the summer of 2026. The artists for the exhibition have been selected through an open call, which was organized by the Artists’ Association of Finland. ”The result is turning out to be a wonderfully deep and multi-voiced exhibition”, characterizes the jury chair Aapo Huhta.
The artists and works featured in the Nuoret 2026 exhibition were selected through an open call. A total of 543 artists or artist groups submitted applications for the open call.
The exhibition features works by the following 26 artists:
Onni Alanko
Tomas Aphalo
Noora El Harouny
Ronya Hirsma
Erkki Huilla
Hermanni Härmälä
Elias Langi
Katya Lesiv
Sara Manninen
Frans Nybacka
Oskar Partanen
Tommi Pasanen
Iiri Poteri
Lyy Raitala
Kristo Saarikoski
Johanna Saikkonen
Mirella Salo
Inari Sandell
Emma Sarpaniemi
Irene Suosalo
Onur Tayranogly
Armi Teva
Christine Valtonen
Lu Yufan
Xiao Zhiyu
Yuije Zhou
The artists were selected by a three-member jury chaired by photographic artist Aapo Huhta. The other members of the jury were visual artist Emma Luukkala and Kunsthalle Helsinki's representative, director Nina Toppila.
Jury chair Aapo Huhta considered the standard of the applications to be extremely high.
- The themes that emerge from the selected works reflect in various ways what young artists are currently interested in. The works express a need to pause and slow down, a deep engagement with materials and their ecological dimensions. There is also a sense of powerlessness in the face of the world's heavy issues, which can even turn into absurdity, as well as critical reflection on for whom society's structures are made. We carefully reviewed each application, and in the end, works by 26 artists were selected for the exhibition. The standard of the applications was extremely high, and the result is turning out to be a wonderfully deep and multi-voiced exhibition, Huhta says.
The Artists' Association of Finland has been responsible for organizing the open call. Kunsthalle Helsinki will take over responsibility for the production of the exhibition.
The Exhibition Nuoret (Young Artists) has been organized since 1939. The Artists' Association has been responsible for organizing the Nuoret (Young Artists) exhibition in the 2000s, but this time the role of the Artists' Association is smaller than before. Even in the challenging economic situation, the Artists' Association of Finland and the Kunsthalle Helsinki have wanted to hold on to the Nuoret (Young Artists) exhibition, which has continued for almost a hundred years and has brought interesting young visual artists and works of art to the Finnish visual arts scene, exhibition after exhibition.
The Nuoret 2026 exhibition will be open at Kunsthalle Helsinki (Nervanderinkatu 3, Helsinki) from May 30 to July 26, 2026.
Maecenas Kilta will award the Young Artist Prize at the exhibition.
Further information:
Hanna Hannus, tel. 050 307 2127, hanna.hannus@artists.fi
Head of Communications, Artists’ Association of Finland