A table for thousands, a year of culture and Oulu’s inviting the world

In 2026, Oulu, Finland will welcome visitors across all seasons, from winter festivals held on the frozen sea in January to a one-kilometer dining table (more than half a mile) running through the city center in June. The table, decorated and partly catered by local vocational students, will seat around 3,000 people sharing a meal under the midnight sun.

“But of course it’s more than just a meal,” says Piia Rantala-Korhonen, CEO of Oulu2026. “It’s a metaphor for the whole year. We want people from everywhere to feel they’re all welcome to the same table, and all part of the same community.”

Rantala-Korhonen is, in many ways herself a woman for all seasons. An amateur artist and printmaker’s daughter who once competed on MasterChef Finland, she has spent the past 10 years helping shape Oulu’s cultural vision. When the city first decided to bid for the European Capital of Culture title back in 2017, she and Program Director Samu Forsblom were simply told to “Go off and write the bid book.” They began by consulting 1,400 local children and young people about their hopes for Oulu’s future, input that became the foundation for the 2026 program.

Reconnecting with culture

What emerged from Oulu’s early bid work was a belief that culture could help the city reconnect with itself. Rantala-Korhonen points to a study that at the time revealed a stark imbalance in Oulu society: while most residents were thriving, around 8% of the population accounted for nearly 80% of social and health service use.

“Rather than treating that purely as a social-services issue, we asked ourselves whether a stronger sense of belonging, meaning more chances to participate, create, and be seen, could shift the community as a whole,” she recalls. “Especially for people who might not normally see themselves as part of the cultural sector.”

Certainly, the EU criteria encouraged that approach of linking cultural strategy with broader societal goals. The result is a year-long program that blends art and technology, urban life and nature, and the participation of 39 municipalities across northern Finland.

Why should you come?

A few highlights show just how wide a canvas Oulu2026 is planning to offer.

One is Faravid’s Land, a large-scale immersive experience that takes place inside an abandoned hypermarket. Audiences will roam through the space like characters in a storybook, moving among dozens of small stages where theater, contemporary circus, dance, and acrobatics unfold around them. “It’s something you really have to experience — you can’t explain it fully in words,” Rantala-Korhonen says. And with around 50 showings from September to December everyone gets a chance to see it.

The early part of the year features Frozen People – an electronic music event staged directly on the frozen sea at Nallikari Beach. The week after, the same location will host the World Championships of Winter Swimming, drawing more than a thousand competitors to a pool cut out of the ice.

“People have signed up from all over the world, or from any place where they’re crazy enough to swim in ice water,” she laughs.

For those who prefer warmth and walls, Oulu’s historic 1886 City Hall will be transformed into a media-art center, featuring Layers in the Peace Machine, an immersive experience that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and machine vision to interact with visitors in real time. This three-story media-art installation was inspired by the late AI researcher Timo Honkela’s vision of technology as a tool for peace. Alongside it, a new exhibition created with the National Gallery’s Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma is called Earworm and explores the way certain combinations of image and music can lodge themselves in our memories.

“An earworm is that feeling you get when a melody keeps looping in your mind,” Rantala-Korhonen explains, “So if you go one of them might just follow you home.”

Art that’s literally good for your health

If you’re still not convinced, Rantala-Korhonen will tell you that visiting art galleries and museums is actually proven to be good for your health. “We now have real evidence that looking at art is genuinely good for you,” she says, citing a recent King’s College London study showing that even twenty minutes in the company of original artworks can lower your heart rate and reduce stress hormones. “So, when we say culture is good for your wellbeing, it’s not just a nice idea, it’s actually measurable.”

Sámi at the heart of Oulu2026

Oulu2026 is not just looking to the city’s center. The Brave Hinterland program reaches deep into the north, giving space and voice to communities often overlooked in mainstream cultural narratives.

The Sámi are the European Union’s only indigenous people, which makes their presence in Oulu especially meaningful. The city already serves as a hub for Sámi education, art, and identity in Finland, including the country’s only university where Sámi language and culture can be studied as a main subject.

“Still, the Sámi don’t define themselves as Finnish or Norwegian or Swedish, they are Sámi,” Rantala-Korhonen says. Artists, storytellers and musicians from across the Sámi region have been invited to join the Oulu2026 calendar. “We want to give them the stage, and let others from around Europe see what a genuine northern identity looks like.”

Arctic tastes for foodies

Food is also on the cultural menu. Through the Arctic Food Lab initiative, nearly 200 local producers, restaurants, and cafés will showcase the flavors of northern Finland, from traditional dishes to modern takes on regional ingredients. Rantala-Korhonen is also writing a food book ‘Delicious Oulu – peeks into Arctic Food Laboratory,’ celebrating local ingredients, arctic food culture and the people behind it. “There will be food history, traditional and contemporary recipes, and also vegan versions, because almost everything can be made for everyone,” she promises.

So… are you coming? 

For Rantala-Korhonen, the case for coming to Oulu is as much about feeling as planning.

“Nobody makes their biggest life decisions rationally,” she says. “When people decide where to travel, it’s always emotional.” She believes that culture, nature, and the warmth of a community are what change minds, and sometimes even change lives. And Oulu2026 is designed with that in mind.

You can follow the journey through the Oulu2026 newsletter and interactive map (link) and start deciding whether you’ll come for the frozen-sea adventures of winter or the midnight sunshine and long-table dinners in summer. Or perhaps plan for both. It’s a big year.

“In the beginning people said there was nothing in Oulu,” Rantala-Korhonen recalls. “Now I don’t hear that anymore. People here feel part of something and proud of their own city.” 

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