The theme of Art Ii Biennial 2026 is solastalgia. 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.
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.
Opening event on Thursday 11th of June at 5pm at Työväentalo, Pappilantie 1, 91100 Ii.
Other locations of Art Ii Biennial are Art Centre KulttuuriKauppila, Kauppilantie 15 & Ii Environmental Art Park, Pappilantie 16.
Ii is located 40km of north of Oulu, by the River Iijoki and by the Bothnian Sea.
The 10th Art Ii Biennial is part of the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture program and cultural climate change.
The artists and art works of Art Ii Biennial 2026:
AUGUST HONORE & TOBIAS ZIMMER: Arc of Light
HEIDUNDGRIESS: Ups and Downs
EEMIL KARILA: Unessani näin joen (In my dream I saw the river)
MAIJA LAVONEN: Olhava -kokonaisuus
SARI PALOSAARI: Weathering the silver lining
RIITTA PENNANEN: Perillä (Getting there)
ELLA POSTI: Excavation
IVAR VEERMÄE: iii
AOI YOSHIZAWA: I Want to Weave Water
ANTTI YLÖNEN & NAOKO CHIBA: Rajamaat (Borderlands)
HUUTAJAT
JENNI LAITI, OUTI PIESKI AND TANJA KOISTINEN: Forewalkers – Ovdavázzit
UOMA -COLLECTIVE: MARIA LAITILA, RIIKKA MÄNTYMAA, HENNA-MARIA HANHINEVA AND JUSSI VIRKKUMAA: Uoma (River bed)
VALENTIN VAALA: Iijoki elää (The living river)