The main hub for the Artfest and host of the headline exhibition, Amos Rex offers unique and surprising experiences through presenting new, often experimental, contemporary art. The museum has hosted exhibitions by artists such as teamLab, Studio Drift, Bill Viola, Ryoji Ikeda and Larissa Sansour. Every three years Amos Rex showcases art by 15 to 23-year-old artists in the Generation exhibition series. The museum entrance and shop are in a functionalist building called Lasipalatsi (‘The Glass Palace’ in English), a landmark of 1930s Finnish modernism. The subterranean exhibition spaces in the extension were designed by JKMM Architects, and the museum opened in 2018.

Helsinki Central Library Oodi will serve as the second central hub for the Artfest. Located in the heart of Helsinki, it will host workshops, film screenings, book readings and launches as well as artistic interventions. The library offers a non-commercial urban public space open to all, opposite the Parliament Building. The library provides knowledge, new skills and stories, and is easily accessible for learning, experiencing, working and relaxing. It is a modern space with a vibrant and functional meeting place for all city residents. The building complements the cultural and media concentration of the Helsinki Music Centre, Finlandia Hall, Sanomat Hall and the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art.  

Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden offers a tropical oasis in the city centre and houses plants from every climate zone on the African continent. Here, Southnord will commission artists to create works in dialogue with the history and taxonomy of these particular specimens and interpret their legacy.  The 10 greenhouses offer a glimpse into the plant life of torrid deserts, humid rainforests and tropical wetlands. The multifaceted and ever-changing outdoor garden offers year-round opportunities for rest and reflection. Visitors can enjoy the garden of the senses to evoke the senses of smell and touch too. The outdoor garden reveals the relationships between plants and the secrets of their diversity.  

Museum of Impossible Forms: Museum of Impossible Forms (MIF) is a cultural center and brainchild art and cultural workers working to build anticolonial, anti-patriarchal, and non-fascist futures. As part of the Artfest, MIF will be hosting a series of events for all the senses under the theme “Dreaming Together” curated by Ulrika Flink and Sonya Lindfors. The platform was founded in 2016 by an independent transdisciplinary group of art and cultural workers, researchers, philosophers, and pedagogues united by the common urgency of enabling a platform that would fill gaps in the critical artistic practice and pedagogy for BIPOC artists in Helsinki. 

The Finnish Museum of Photography is Finland's national specialised museum for photography. The Museum will host a workshop lecture and two photography exhibitions as part of the Artfest. Founded on the initiative of Finnish photography organisations, the museum opened its doors in 1969 and is the oldest photography museum in Europe. Through exhibitions, collection management, education, research, and a wide range of public and community programmes, the museum strives to promote and foster photographic art and culture in Finland.  

Together with South African curator Nontobeko Ntombela and the curatorial platform PUBLICS, Southnord will host a symposium reflecting on the position of African women curators who have built institutions and curatorial practice on the Continent with the practices of Koyo Kouoh and Bisi Silva as an anchor. PUBLICS is a curatorial and contemporary art commissioning agency with a dedicated library, exhibition space, event space and reading room in northern Helsinki. Most recently, they launched The Centre for Curatorial Thinking to create a series of new annual large scale international symposia called POSITIONING focusing on contemporary art’s relationship to Curatorial Thinking.

Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA) and Southnord will collaborate to activate the legacy of Howard Smith during the retrospective exhibition they have produced. This is a contemporary art museum that believes in the power of art to inspire and evoke a unique visual and spatial experience. They strive to foster creativity and boundary-pushing in art and design.  EMMA presents a varied calendar of exhibitions showcasing contemporary and modern art, design and experimental pieces. They offer an immersive experience that excites all the senses and caters to all types of visitors.