An expanded version of the exhibition showing works presented for the 8th European Prize for Urban Public Space is to be opened on the occasion of the "Schools as Public Space” seminar.

From 4 February until 15 March 2015 the Museum of Finnish Architecture (MFA) is to be the venue for an expanded version of the itinerant “Shared Cities” exhibition. This production of the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) has so far been exhibited in Barcelona, Bordeaux, and Szczecin (Poland). In Helsinki, “Shared Cities” – which, as is the custom with the Prize exhibitions, shows the twenty-five interventions that were finalists or that received Special mentions or prizes in the 8th European Prize for Urban Public Space (2014) – will have two additional sections especially conceived for this occasion.

One of the new sections is an introductory space giving an account of the history of the Prize and the winning works throughout its first seven awards (2000-2012). The other, a concluding section, goes beyond the framework of the Prize to focus on the situation of public space in Helsinki. Hence, this space presents a series of public interventions that have revitalised urban spaces of the city, together with a range of experiences in which the City Council and urban activist groups have worked together. Among the examples shown are an ice-skating rink in the Railway Station Square, an installation that seeks to recover the sauna culture in the urban environment and, perhaps even more remarkable, Restaurant Day, a periodical initiative which has spread to cities throughout the world and consists of breathing life into public space with a food carnival in which any person can set up a one-day restaurant, at home, in a shop or in the street.

Preceding the opening of the exhibition, a seminar titled “Schools as Public Space” is to be held in the Museum on Wednesday 4 February from 2 – 6 p.m. as part of the “Europe City” programme, in which the partners are the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona and the Museum of Architecture and Design Ljubljana (MAO). Among the speakers at the seminar, which is free of charge and in English, are Judit Carrera (director of the European Prize for Urban Public Space), Matevž Čelik (director of the MAO), Ilkka Salminen (Finnish architect, and member of the Verstas Architects group), Hilla Rudanko (Finnish architect and member of the Rudanko + Kankkunen Architects group) and Petri Saarelainen (Finnish architect and member of the Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects group).


Further information:
Museum of Finnish Architecture (MFA)
www.mfa.fi
Kasarmikatu 24
Helsinki (Finland)

Opening hours:
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Entrance fees:
Adults: 8€
Students: 4€
Minors: free of charge