Image: The Helsinki Central Library Oodi. Photographed by Maarit Hohteri
Southnord Artfest 2026: Helsinki Central Library Oodi
One of the most visited public buildings in Finland, Helsinki Central Library Oodi is a vast civic space built around access, community and the free exchange of ideas. Located in the heart of the city, it is a place where publics of all kinds already gather — and for Artfest 2026, it becomes the triennial’s literary and intellectual centre.
The Oodi programme runs from October 2026 through March 2027, offering a curated pop-up library assembled in collaboration with Contemporary &. Here, Southnord launches Southnord Vol. 1: 2023–2026, chronicling the first three years of our existence. From there it expands into a full season of panels, workshops, film screenings and public gatherings.
The events range widely — across art education, archiving, Black Nordic literature and history, as well as African cinema, and have been co-curated with Ulrika Flink.A library is where the far is brought near, where a film or a poem can make a stranger feel like kin. There is joy here and there is reckoning, often in the same afternoon. All of it is free. All of it is yours.
Dates: 18 October 2026 - 17 March 2027
Opening hours: See details below
Venue:
Helsinki Central Library Oodi
Töölönlahdenkatu 4
00100 Helsinki, Finland
Sunday 18 October
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We explore different printing techniques together. For children ages 6+. Drop-in and free of charge.
Place: Oodi, Kuutio, 2nd Floor
Monday 26 October - Wednesday 17 January 2027
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The C& Center of Unfinished Business is a reading room that offers an extraordinary, sometimes disconcerting selection of books connected to the topic of colonialism in various ways – from German colonization to Congolese fashion to twenty-first-century capital markets, it stretches into many different areas affected. This pop-up contains books from C&'s collection curated by Ethel-Ruth Tawe. For this Helsinki edition, Southnord will be contributing our collection of art reference books to the pop-up library.
Sunday 25 October
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A symposium centred on the works of Lebo Tlali and Sasha Huber, exploring Namibia's colonial history through film, performance and critical dialogue, anchored by the story of Rosa Emilia Clay (1875–1959).
Tuesday 27 October
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The C& Center of Unfinished Business pop-up library will be officially opened with readings, a panel discussion and the celebration of the launch of Southnord Vol. 1: 2023-2026 a brand-new publication documenting the first three years of Southnord’s existence and activities.
Place: Oodi, Saarikoski Rug, 3rd Floor
Thursday 29 October
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The panel discussion will explore the state of arts education in the Nordic region and beyond, with a particular focus on access and representation, within contemporary art institutions. Central to the conversation is the question of who is given visibility, opportunity, and authority within the arts sector, and why Afro-Nordic contemporary art curators, programmers, directors, and cultural leaders remain underrepresented in countries such as Finland despite growing conversations around diversity and inclusion.
Thursday 7 - Friday 8 November
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A weekend celebration of Afrodiasporic voices in literature, bringing together poets, authors and researchers from across the Nordic countries for readings, dialogues and exchanges with the Helsinki public.
Date: 7 November 2026
Place: Oodi, Saarikoski Rug, 3rd Floor
Time: 14:00 – 17:00Date: 8 November 2026
Place: Oodi, Maijansali, 1st Floor
Time: 14:00 – 19:00
Thursday 12 November
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Who decides what stories from the Black Nordic experience are worth preserving? Who has the authority to collect, interpret and narrate Black Nordic history? This panel brings together Black archivists, scholars and community organisers from Sweden and Norway who are actively constructing new infrastructures for Black Nordic memory.
Saturday 30 January 2027
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What does it mean to be Black and feminist in the Nordics? What tools do you reach for when the institutions around you were not built with you in mind, and what communities, stories and futures do you build when you decide to stop waiting for permission? Koko Hubara, Oda-Kange Midtvåge Diallo and Jasmine Kelekay come together in a conversation moderated by researcher Maïmouna Matikainen-Soreau about what Black feminist life actually looks like in these countries, in all its difficulty, creativity and force.
Place: Oodi, Maijansali, 1st Floor
Tuesday 16 February 2027
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A provocative multimedia exploration by South African artist Lebohang Tlali. Blending photography, film, archival research, and music, Lebohang excavates the elusive legacy of Rosa Emilia Clay while interrogating themes of racism, identity, and representation across time and place.
Place: Oodi, Kino Regina
Saturday 20 - Sunday 21 February 2027
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Pan African Pics is built on a single curatorial principle: every film in the program has won a major prize at a leading African film festival. This programme is a window into the finest work being made across the continent, as chosen by the juries of Africa's leading film festivals. The programme runs over two days and five screenings — two fiction features, two documentaries, and one short film.
Date: 20 February 2027
Time: 15:00-22:10Date: 21 February 2027
Time: 14:00-20:30Place: Oodi, Kino Regina