Strange Fruit Helsinki Night of the Arts

The Night of the Arts ( fi, Taiteiden yö, sv, Konstens natt) is an annual event held in several major cities in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, usually in August. E.g. in 2019: Helsinki, Turku and Oulu 15 August; Tampere and Vaasa 8 August. It is one of many

White Night festivals The White Nights are all-night arts festival held in many cities in the summer. The original festival is the White Nights Festival held in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The ''white nights'' is the name given in areas of high latitude to the weeks ar ...

held worldwide. The Night of the arts is an

art festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lite ...

, where art-related events happen in various places all around the city. The events typically begin at around 6 to 8 PM and last at least until midnight, sometimes even to early morning. Events are held in

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

s, public

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

s and other places. The event has received criticism because of increased use of

alcoholic beverage An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...

s in public late at night. Because of this, a derogatory nickname for the event is the "Night of the bottles" (''Pullojen yö'').

Katutaiteiden yö

In recent years there has been a sort of a counter-event called Katutaiteiden yö ("Street arts night") that concentrated around

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

in its different forms. To date, the events have only taken place in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, whilst in other cities, graffiti happenings are a regular part of the official event.

External links

Official website
Festivals in Finland Arts festivals in Finland August events Recurring events established in 1989 Festivals established in 1989 Street art festivals Summer events in Finland {{Europe-art-display-stub