The whole village yard in Tampere

The entire village yard invites everyone to an open art space in the middle of the city of Tampere. The block-sized art gallery offers space to hang out and make art, play yard games, take care of the vegetable garden in the summer, or take thrilling rides on the ice slide in the winter. The popular hangout spot for the townspeople is maintained by “art housekeeper” Mika Pettissalo, under whose guidance the place has developed into a diverse free art area. A point of comparison for the implementation can be found, for example, in the bohemian corners of Berlin.

Tampere Communicable Disease Hospital once operated in the block. Since 2003, Pettissalo, who was studying visual arts at the time, started voluntarily taking care of the courtyard, which had become a waste farm and an urban fallow. He set out to create an art world there, which offered opportunities for community participation to everyone who wanted to. As a result, a real estate management model based on circular economy was born, which functions as an open art space.

After complicated zoning struggles, Tampere’s politicians have canceled the block’s supplementary construction plans and see the space as promoting the values ​​of the city strategy – well-being, participation and community. Art yard has developed into a nationally unique model of space and activity that offers opportunities for refreshment and creativity to all who wish.

Mika Pettissalo is a trained visual artist, but a soulmate of ITE art, a true creator of self-made life. “If there’s even a small thing that makes you happy, it’s worth doing,” he reflects.