Solastalgia describes a longing for a place, or a grief for place. The concept  is closely related to nostalgia. Belonging to a place, and being away from or losing connection to one’s home, are questions deeply intertwined with Northern identity.

In Ii, the strong presence of the river Iijoki shapes the inner landscape of many who have grown up along its banks. The river’s current engages the senses and emotions, calms a restless mind and symbolizes life and its passage. It connects people to the broader currents of history and nature, offering a sense of continuity amid turbulent times and transformation. For many who are rooted by the river, the home landscape travels with them wherever they go.

The 10. Art Ii Biennial approaches environmental and site-specific art as a mediator of collective memory and emotion. The environment and landscape are examined in layers: places are revisited, their damages handled with care, dams are opened. Alongside grief, the exhibition gives rise to consolation, silence, and the sublime.

In 2026, the Art Ii Biennial collaborates with the Estonian residency center Maajaam and its outdoor technological art exhibition concept Wild Bits, which broadens these inquiries into the realm of media and ecological imagination.

These themes unfold in the 10th edition of the environmental art exhibition Art Ii Biennial in the summer of 2026. The exhibition engages with the cycles of nature, the intergenerational bonds of landscape, and the question of what it means to mourn one’s familiar surroundings and to be transformed along with them.