Theresa Traore Dahlberg at the Helsinki Biennial, Helsinki, Finland: Biennial

Helsinki Biennial 2025 brings together 37 artists and collectives on Vallisaari Island, in Esplanade Park, and at HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Organised for the third time, the theme of this year’s biennial is Shelter: Below and Beyond, Becoming and Belonging. Helsinki Biennial will be held from 8 June to 21 September 2025.

 

The curators of Helsinki Biennial 2025, Blanca de la Torre and Kati Kivinen, drew inspiration from the protected Vallisaari Island, which has been preserved from human habitation for decades. Helsinki Biennial 2025 explores the significance of shelter and turns the gaze towards non-human nature. In the works, the focus shifts from humans to animals, water, plants, insects, minerals, and other living agents and their role as contributors to our planet’s well-being.

 

At the Biennale, Thersa Traore Dahlberg presents an installation on Vallisaari’s Island, where  recycled materials – metals and minerals excavated from the Earth – claim their right to exist in a new bird-like form proposed by the artist. On view at HAM Helsinki Art Museum are also three sculptures: two of them take their shape from a hare, and the third one is based on the Senufo bird figure and African fable.

 

For more information about the 2025 Helsinki Biennial, please visit their website.