Culture took over the campuses: opening of the university’s culture year was celebrated last week

Opening of the University of Oulu culture year launched the new year-long Campus as a Stage event series, which aims to showcase the broad cultural expertise of our university community and bring culture to everyday life on our campuses and to a wider audience. The series includes cultural lunches, cultural lectures, After Work events, various exhibitions and community art works, and art tours of the university's art collections. This event series acts as a spearhead for the university's culture programme.

Music, theatre, and film on the Kontinkangas campus

On Tuesday, January 20th, the opening ceremony was held on the Kontinkangas campus with opening words by rector Arto Maaninen. In his speech, Maaninen underlined, among other things, the importance of culture and art, and how the university aims this year and in the future to strengthen Oulu’s position as an attractive and lively student city that enables the development of a dynamic student culture, highlights science and scientists as a cultural force for change, and strengthens the city’s ability to attract, retain, and inspire people.

In the opening ceremony on Kontinkangas, several Campus as a Stage performer groups – both students and staff members of the university – took the stage. Music performances featured the Cassiopeia choir, the university chamber orchestra, and the Professor Band which lineup included, among others, professor Matti Alatalo and director of academic affairs Vesa-Matti Sarenius. The Student Theatre of Oulu’s improvisational theatre group entertained the audience with improvised glimpses of “Dancing with the Professor” show and horror adventure and demonstrated all the surprising things one can do with a mixer.

During the opening ceremony, collective textile artwork was also started, with the students from the Faculty of Education and Psychology teaching various macramé knotting techniques. The artwork can still be contributed to in the main lobby of the Kontinkangas campus.

The first After Work event on the Kontinkangas campus offered a preview of the Pegasus Library’s “Off to the North!” film festival with the Oulu-based movie Twisted Roots. Professor of addiction medicine Solja Niemelä from the University of Turku gave an expert talk on the use of cinema in medical education.

Dance, art, and jazz on the Linnanmaa campus

On Thursday, January 22nd, the culture year opening ceremony was also held on the Linnanmaa campus. The event began with a joint music and dance performance by university staff and alumni, led by doctoral researcher Nina Jackson and alumni Tommi Laivamaa’s ensemble Tropical Thinking Collective.

Vice‑rector for education Mirja Illikainen delivered the opening remarks for the event. The event also introduced the Ribbons of Growth artwork created by students and teachers of the Faculty of Education and Psychology, as well as the Tapiiri art circle’s Window Magnet Love Poem, and featured also Studio Korppikela’s activities.

During Culture lunches in the Hilla and Kerttu restaurants, diners and those waiting in line enjoyed fairy tales read by the Student Theatre of Oulu and drinking songs performed by the engineering student choir TeeKu. The Culture lunches will continue couple of times a month throughout the year on both campuses.

The first guided art tours both in Finnish and English also began during the opening ceremony on the Linnanmaa campus. The tours showcase the university’s art collection that includes over 900 pieces of art. The tours have attracted a lot of interest and will be held several times a month throughout 2026.

The day concluded with the first After Work performances on the Linnanmaa campus. In Saalasti hall, the Professor Band performed featuring the Teekkaritorvet brass section and musician Jukka Takalo. The final performers of the evening were Teekkaritorvet, who played, true to their style, “very serious and highly respectable” jazz music.

“What is culture?”

As part of the Linnanmaa opening ceremony, a bilingual Finnish–English panel discussion was held with the theme “What is culture?” The panelists were professor Pirkko Paananen, university lecturer Aino Isojärvi, postdoctoral researcher Markus Rytinki, and doctoral researcher Marian Tumanyan. The panel discussion is available on the university’s YouTube channel until the first week of February.