KAS Community Based Public Art!

Afabi participates in the production of Kontula Art School projects in the Mellunkylä area of Helsinki from 2025 to 2027.

 

The first project, completed in 2025, was Kaupunki on meidän koti (The City Is Our Home) — a community-based public artwork at Kontula metro station in East Helsinki.

 

Between May and July 2025, KAS! Kontula Art School, led by community artist-researcher Heidi Hänninen, produced approximately 126 metres of local artwork for the station under renovation. A total of 36 painters, aged from 8 years to retirement age, designed and executed their own works.

 

Themes for the adult participants included local place names, urban nature in Mellunkylä, and the Kontula shopping centre. Both adult and youth works also drew inspiration from the theme “magical city.” In addition, Hänninen collaborated with children and young people to create a multilingual artwork featuring the word home painted in 28 different languages, most of which are locally spoken or otherwise significant in Finland.

 

The artwork at Kontula metro station is part of Hänninen’s doctoral research at the Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki. It is the final artistic component of the research and also serves as the concluding work for Kontula Art School participants, some of whom have been involved since 2019–2020. The production was realised with the contribution of Afabi ry. The paints used for the stone walls were sponsored by Tikkurila. Contractor: Rakennuspartio Oy.

 

The project was funded by the Kone Foundation (Hänninen / research grant) and the City of Helsinki.

 

Photos: Kaupunkiliikenne Oy.