During the last week of September, the grand urban art event “Grand Lasnamäe” begins in Tallinn. The Finnish festival “Oon kaupungissa” (“I Am in the City”), which was included in the Helsinki World Design Capital programme, leaves its homeland behind to discover the living environment in Lasnamäe. The public space is brightened up with urban artworks which were chosen among the participants of the idea competition which was organised in Estonia and Finland simultaneously. The authors of different installations, happenings and interventions include young artists, urbanists, activists, interior architects, textile designers and photographers.

The curator on the Estonian side, Kadri Klement is glad that the local urban space is fascinating not only for the architects but also industrial artists and designers. “Public space is a stage where more and more different people and worlds meet. Thus, the performances are bound to be very exciting because there is no reason to assume that they adhere to a set ideas when it comes to the materials, formats, scale, techniques or concepts. Everything is possible. Even the smallest changes in the urban space are never independent displays like objects in display cabinets as they always exist in symbiosis with their context.”

All the artworks come together on an illustrated map which is available both physically on paper and on the internet. The opening event takes part in the Kumu Art Museum on the eve before the beginning of Design Night festival on September 24. The urban artworks remain in Lasnamäe until November. Organisers: Finnish Institute and the association of artists Taiteilijat O and Linnalabor together with partners.