Art in electricity cabinets
At Helen Electricity Network, we invite artists to transform utility cabinets into works of art each year to brighten the cityscape and bring joy to residents. This year, a number of art utility cabinets will be unveiled across central Helsinki, adding colour and delight to the urban environment.
Discover the artworks on curated routes
This year, new utility cabinets will be transformed into artworks across central Helsinki. To help you discover them, we have created a selection of routes featuring the completed cabinets. These routes make it easy to explore the new artworks that brighten the cityscape and see familiar streets and neighbourhoods from a fresh perspective.
One of the routes includes ten utility cabinets painted this summer. The routes will be updated and expanded as more artworks are completed. All utility cabinets included in the 2026 programme will be finished by the end of August.
The artworks are inspired by energy
Each year, the art in electricity cabinets is inspired by a new theme that provides inspiration for the artists and their paintings. In the programme’s first year, the theme is energy. Every artwork offers a unique interpretation of this annual theme.
Energy is all around us. It is more than light, heat and electricity – it is also emotion, movement and the spark that brings people together. It can be found in human connections, in art, in the natural world and in the rhythm of city life. Sometimes it is visible, sometimes unseen; sometimes subtle, sometimes powerful. Through their artworks, each artist offers a personal and unique interpretation of what energy means to them.
Choose your route
Exploring the art electricity cabinets is an easy and inspiring way to get outside and experience the city through art. Choose one or more of the routes below, open them in Google Maps, and discover the artworks that bring colour and creativity to the streets of Helsinki.
This route showcases the freshest additions to the streets of Helsinki, featuring the first ten art utility cabinets completed this year. The route takes you from Tokoinranta through Kamppi, the Central Railway Station and Kluuvi, all the way to Punavuori.
The route is approximately five kilometres long and takes about one hour to complete on foot.
Open the route in Google Maps here.
Eläintarhantie 9
Artist: Aarni Tujula
I was inspired by barn swallows perched on power lines, seemingly unaffected by the electricity flowing through them. Birds sitting on power lines create a peaceful and calming image, even though a tremendous amount of electricity is passing through the wires.
Olavinkatu 1/Arkadiankatu 6
Artist: Kaarina Uimonen
My artwork is based on a fish character from my comic series Housukalat (“Trouser Fish”). The character is usually rather laid-back and lazy, but this time it has been energized by spring and sunlight and has set off on a run. I hope passers-by will gain a little energy and a smile from it throughout the year.
Annankatu 40 (Corner of Annankatu and Urho Kekkonen katu)
Artist: Armi Suhonen ja Miia Kaasinen
The artwork invites viewers to reflect on their own sources of energy. For our wellbeing, it is important to find ways to recharge and identify the things that give us strength and restore our energy. In the image, different people are recharging through their own personal sources of energy. What energises you? Nature, loved ones, exercise, music…?
Mannerheimintie 22
Artist: Sara Bruun
My painting is intentionally open to interpretation. One person close to me saw a lake, water lilies, stones and bubbles. Another saw algae and cells floating beneath the surface of the water. Neither interpretation is wrong. I approached the theme of energy by drawing inspiration from the idea that energy is all around us, often in ways we cannot see.
I am fascinated by the fact that cells both produce and require enormous amounts of energy to function continuously. This idea guided me as I explored the theme of the painting programme. The shapes in my artwork were inspired by microscopic images of different types of cells.
Cells renew themselves and carry out their tasks in animals, humans and plants alike – in water, in the air and on land. No matter how much we classify and separate things, all living beings ultimately share something fundamental: we are collections of cells that both consume and generate energy. Whether the viewer sees a flower bed, an underwater landscape or an anatomical image in my painting, all of these are made up of tiny cells and the extraordinary energy they contain.
Mannerheimintie 9
Artist: Hertta Lehtovirta
For me, exercise is one of the most important sources of energy in everyday life, which is why I chose a cycling rabbit as the theme of my artwork. Nature and vibrant colours also give me energy, and I wanted to reflect both of these elements in the piece.
Rautatientori 1 (Corner of Rautatientori and Kaivokatu)
Artist: Säde Pursiainen
In my painting, energy appears both as a force that shapes the surrounding environment and as an individual's internal emotional experience – two things that do not always go hand in hand. The artwork depicts an anthropomorphic animal character sitting in a nightclub in the early hours of the morning. As the character sits apart from the crowd, watching others dance and celebrate, the constantly moving lights from the dance floor fall across them.
Within the nightclub, movement, light and music combine to create a powerful and immersive energy. This stands in contrast to the character’s stillness and their gradually fading sense of energy. For someone, it is time to go home.
Keskuskatu 7
Artist: HAI: Heta, Iida, Anni
Energy is not created by machines alone – it is also generated through human interaction. Spending time with friends creates a tremendous amount of positive energy that radiates outward to the people around us. Through our artwork, we wanted to bring joy and energy to people’s everyday lives and summer experiences.
The painting features three dancers whose energy seems to radiate into their surroundings. The style is graphic and slightly abstract, yet still representational, allowing viewers to interpret the scene in different ways – for example, as a disco or dance floor setting.
Kluuvikatu 3
Artist: Julia Rantakari
My artwork depicts the first signs of spring – the familiar sights that often spark a surge of energy in people. After a long, dark winter, Finns eagerly await spring and the light and warmth it brings. No other season seems to generate the same sense of excitement and renewed energy. In Finland, children are even taught in primary school to look for the first signs of spring. In my artwork, I have captured some of the most recognisable of these signs: smiling coltsfoot flowers, newly awakened bumblebees, and a busy ant hard at work. Along the sides, you can spot a brimstone butterfly, as well as the open sea and seagulls – whose calls are one of the surest signs of spring in Helsinki.
Through the artwork’s warm, vibrant colours and playful, childlike style, I wanted to evoke that same feeling of energy and anticipation that spring brings when someone passes by the cabinet. My hope is that the artwork itself acts as a year-round boost of energy, bringing a little extra brightness and vitality to the lives of Helsinki residents.
Kasarmikatu 23
Artist: Vieno Virtanen
My artwork, titled Harvest Chaos, celebrates the abundance of a bountiful harvest. Food is the foundation of life and an essential part of the flow of energy in nature. Beyond the nutrients that fuel our bodies, the rich variety of vegetables also nourishes the soul with their vibrant colours and visual beauty.
Merimiehenkatu 1
Artist: Petra Vedenpää and the wedding party
I wanted to give a wedding gift that was as unique as the couple and the way they chose to celebrate their marriage. In May, two of my dear friends eloped to Las Vegas and exchanged vows beneath the city's iconic neon lights. My idea was to give them the opportunity to create an Art Around the Corner utility cabinet painting as a wedding gift. Together, we spent a wonderful summer day in our hometown of Helsinki, celebrating with a post-wedding gathering and painting the cabinet as a group of close friends.
The artwork captures the glow of Las Vegas lights combined with the love shared by the newlyweds and their close friends. To me, that connection and affection represent energy in its most beautiful form.
The routes will be updated and expanded as more artworks are completed. All utility cabinets included in the 2026 programme will be finished by the end of August.