Projects
Shadow Room's projects are self-initiated artistic, research-based and multidisciplinary development work.
Unlike our services, projects have no predefined client or set end result. Even so, almost without exception they have later found an audience, a user or a buyer.
We approach projects as development work: we experiment, test, build and develop. Ideas can grow into works, prototypes, exhibitions, spaces or entirely new ways of operating.
Projects make room for the unfinished and allow us to explore ideas for which there is not yet any ready demand or purpose. They make up most of our community's year-round activity, which members carry out either independently or together.
2021–2025 | Hakkila, Vantaa
Hakkila Art Village
From container village to community art park
Hakkila Art Village is a community art project carried out by Shadow Room ry in 2021–2025. Its aim was to develop the container village in Hakkila, Vantaa, into a hub of urban culture and community art.
Built from recycled shipping containers and portable cabins, the container village is a community of more than a hundred rental spaces, home to entrepreneurs, artists, craftspeople and hobbyists from many different fields. The area's strengths are its sense of community, mutual interaction, multiculturalism and multidisciplinary collaboration.
In the Hakkila Art Village project, the container village was developed through community art. We created an environment in which art is part of everyday life and in which the people working in the area could take part in shaping their own surroundings.
The project offered an opportunity to try out new participatory ways of working, to develop art workshops and to strengthen individuals' inclusion, freedom of expression and self-directed activity.
The project began in May 2021 as a self-funded Shadow Room project. It was made possible by the permission of the operator of the container village, Suomen Kotteria Oy, to develop the area freely through community art.
From 2022 onwards, the project was supported by Tikkurila Oyj, the City of Vantaa, the Uusimaa Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and Hyvän mielen ministeriö.
Award
City of Vantaa Significant Cultural Achievement Award
For the Hakkila Art Village project, Shadow Room ry received the City of Vantaa's Significant Cultural Achievement Award. The award citation recognised the association's work in promoting creativity, artistic collaboration and cultural diversity, as well as its importance in revitalising the local community and supporting cultural participation.
Autumn 2026 | Vantaa
Skenesali
Skenesali is a culture and event venue in Vantaa that we are developing together with Velmu ry in autumn 2026. Skenesali is also the home of the annual Shadow Concerts (Varjo Konsertti).
The collaboration stems from the need to strengthen local cultural activity: those working in Vantaa must join forces, share their expertise and develop shared environments to work in. The city's cultural life grows stronger through collaboration between local makers!
In practice, Shadow Room is renovating, painting and restoring the Skenesali premises. The aim is to improve their usability, safety, comfort and versatility. The development work combines hands-on building, spatial design and an understanding of the needs of different kinds of events.
Hyvinkää | 2023–2027
Middle of Nowhere
Self-initiated art in the middle of nowhere
Middle of Nowhere is an ITE art park in the village of Kaukaset in Hyvinkää, where works by self-taught artists, recycled materials and the surrounding nature form a unique art environment.
Shadow Room has been involved in developing the art park since its very first stages. As a result of the collaboration, the park has six of our permanent works, which the public can visit during the park's opening hours.
The collaboration continues in May 2027, when we will build a miniature Shadow Chamber (Varjohuone) in the art park.
Middle of Nowhere offers an environment for self-directed artistic work, experimentation and the realisation of new ideas. It is a place where art can grow into its surroundings without the limits of a traditional exhibition space.
