The Helsinki Biennale has announced 16 more artists and artist groups for its 2027 edition, completing a roster of 45 participants. The biennial, titled Unknowns, will run from 6 June to 19 September 2027 across Vallisaari island, Esplanade Park and the HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

The newly announced names span Finland, the Nordic region and Asia. They include Ching-Yuan Chen, Dede Cipon, Leiko Ikemura, Tove Jansson, Jane Jin Kaisen, Muriel Kuoppala, Haroon Mirza, Anna Niskanen, Erkki Pirtola, Eino Ruutsalo, Momoko Seto, Axel Straschnoy, Ingunn Utsi, Marja Viitahuhta and Ánnámáret, Haegue Yang and Ebosi Yuasa. Jansson, best known as the creator of the Moomins, appears in a fine-art context rarely seen in biennial line-ups.

Curators Mami Kataoka and Arja Miller built the theme around a simple observation: humanity has only ever understood a fraction of the world. Across cultures and generations, they argue, people have turned to spirituality, science, storytelling and imagination to find their way through what they cannot explain, and the biennial's artists work in that territory.

The Helsinki Biennale, first held in 2021, has grown into one of the Nordic region's flagship contemporary art events. Its island venue on Vallisaari, a former military site off the Helsinki coast, remains central to the format, with works installed outdoors as well as in the city-centre park and museum. The three venues give the biennial an unusual shape: a car-free island reached by boat, a public park in the heart of the capital, and the city's own art museum, each hosting a share of the 45 artists.

Among the newly announced names, several bring established international profiles to the roster. Haegue Yang, known for her sculptural installations built from Venetian blinds, bells and light, and Haroon Mirza, whose work turns electricity and sound into sculptural material, sit alongside Leiko Ikemura, whose paintings and sculptures move between Japanese and European traditions. The inclusion of Jansson, whose Moomin books made her a household name far beyond Finland, signals the curators' interest in artists whose work crosses the line between popular imagination and fine art.