The essence of present-day Helsinki is still determined by the last millennium's imaginings of the future. However, the city is changing. How do you imagine the future now?
Currently, plans for the city are being made anticipating the period 2030–2050. What will change when the highways that followed the development of industrialisation and private motoring in the 1960s are compacted back towards a block-shaped city? What kind of city do we want to leave for the next generations to live in?
Väylä 45 (in Eng. Highway 45) is a performance that takes participants on a walking tour around Käpylä station (note: the performance language is Finnish). In the future, the place will have new traffic arrangements and a new kind of city centre – hopes for smooth working, comfortable living and new residents. Both the fiercely flowing Tuusulanväylä and the small streets of the Metsälä office area serve as the stage for the performance. What kind of movement is the city in and where is it going?
The performance on urban planning considers the negotiation regarding our common living environment and different ways to influence the future. In the performance, the audience is invited to take a closer look at the details of the everyday environment and the views that open up from them into the layers of time, as well as to get to know an ordinary place through the lenses of change.
Väylä 45 is the last part of the Työmaa works series realised by the working group in different cities in places undergoing change.
Working group
Sebastian López-Lehto
Maarit Utriainen
Riikka Vuorenmaa
Supporters: Taike – Arts Promotion Centre, Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse, Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Fund for Uusimaa Region
The työmaa performance series is a coproduction with the working group, Piste Collective and the festivals of the Kulkue – Procession project.
Väylä 45 is a part of Kulkue, a joint project between three Finnish art festivals. ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival(Kuopio), Hangö Teaterträff(Hanko), and Baltic Circle (Helsinki) create an exceptionally large-scale series of Finnish co-productions along with related tours. The project’s central goal is to promote the accessibility of the festivals and to prolong the life cycle of the performances. The project is financed by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Key words: City planning, city walk, future, participatory, installation