UTOPIAS LAHTI FESTIVAL VOL. III

Utopias Lahti is an artist-run visual arts festival organised in Lahti, Finland. The third edition of the festival will take place in May 2026. See the program here.

***

Architecture and photography seem increasingly bound by similar timespans. At the beginning of the 20th century, both photographic prints and buildings were made to last a cycle of 100–200 years, but digitalisation and the accelerating pace of construction have significantly compressed this time. Today, both disappear at a much faster rate. The subtitle of Utopias Lahti 2026 refers to London’s Crystal Palace, a monumental glass-and-metal pavilion destroyed by fire in 1936 and now accessible only through photographs.

The third edition of Utopias Lahti explores the relationships between photography, architecture, and urban space. What kinds of relationships do we form with images in the space of a city? How do photographs structure and shape our everyday environments? The festival exhibitions lead visitors from underground cellars filled with the hum of ventilation systems to a rooftop overlooking the cityscape.

Photography and architectural practices have long evolved in parallel. The Crystal Palace, built for the 1851 Great Exhibition, was the first large scale construction project undertaken using prefabricated glass-and-metal elements. The building was a key precursor to modernist architecture, which emerged in the late 19th century after the development of large scale industrial production processes and standardised building materials, such as metal and glass. These same materials and developments also underpinned the rapid expansion of photography during the same period. 

At the core of the festival is a proposal for dismantling this standardisation and mass production. In the production of the exhibition program we are developing new exhibition practices based on local circular economy and surplus materials. In this edition, we have once again expanded our network of local companies and organisations that make this possible, and the festival exhibitions have been produced largely from materials obtained and refined together with these partners. Photographs in the exhibitions have been printed on handmade recycled cotton paper and other recycled materials. The wood, glass, and metal exhibition structures have been designed using surplus materials from construction sites and other local sources.

The festival’s three-part exhibition program brings a group of international artists to Möysä, who share a spatial and material relationship with photography. At the same time, a basement complex next to the Sokos department store has been taken over by fourteen graduating students from LAB University of Applied Sciences. At Gallery Uusi Kipinä, an exhibition based on the festivals pedagogical program looks at the city’s visual and emotional architecture through the eyes of local youth. 

In 2026, the festival’s public program is broader than ever before. Through workshops, screenings, skateboard jam, and other events, we invite visitors to explore urban spaces and their thematics with us. Above all, we hope the festival will help you to discover something new and unexpected in the city and its layers.

***

Festival team 2026: Henri Airo, Toivo Heinimäki, Mikko Kerttula, Jaakob Lahtinen, Ronja Siitonen, Veeti Valkama, Iida Viio

Contact us: info@utopiaslahti.com



Background image: Victoria Pidust

@utopiaslahti
@vtry_lahti