INFO
SAARA HALMINEN they/them
Helsinki, Finland
Born 2003
inquiries:
saara.halminen@gmail.com
instagram
Halminen (b. 2003, Oulu) is a multimedia artist based in Helsinki, Finland. Currently studying painting in the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, they work across various media, including installation, video, sculpting, 3D, and graphic art. Still mostly focusing on the long background in oil painting, their work is affected by the eyes of a painter.
Currently, Halminen is working with themes around queer worldbuilding, psychoanalysis and combining these two very broad perspectives in concepts of pleasure and art practice itself. Pleasure has been central to their thinking almost violently. Focusing on pleasure in daily life almost obsessively reveals liminalities and a demand for movement and constant transformation.
During the last year (2025), Halminen has been working as an artist and project manager in a long-term production for Oulu 2026 - European Capital of Culture. Halminen has been temporarily studying at the Academy of Fine Art Prague in 2025. Their works have been exhibited in Oulu and Helsinki, and they are currently working on their BA exhibition, taking place in August 2026.
CV
A Journey through the memories of Northern Ostrobothnia, 2025-2026
Saara Halminen, Mikko-Pekka Hyvärinen, Martta Kontio
A Journey through the memories of Northern Ostrobothnia, 2025-2026
Series of site-specific installations built in taxis.
Halminen produced a site-specific installation series for Menevä Oy’s taxis. The project was created in spring 2025. The artworks are part of the Oulu European Capital of Culture programme. In addition to Halminen, the working group consisted of two Oulu-based artists who collaboratively designed and built the installations for the taxis during spring and summer 2025. The installations were done in five Menevä taxis. Menevä acted as the main sponsor and enabler of the project by providing access to its cars to install the artworks in. The taxis will function for a year as “Culture Taxis” and as site-specific, low-threshold art installations.
Group curated artworks from seven artists in total including Jenne Välitalo, Liisa Hietanen, Arttu Porkka, Oona Kaitera, Mikko-Pekka Hyvärinen, Martta Kontio and Saara Halminen.In Oulu, the Kulttuuritaksi’s will serve, for example, as the first point of contact with the Oulu Capital of Culture programme for visitors arriving at the airport. The works will transport passengers into memories and atmospheres of Northern Ostrobothnia. Pine forests, stories from a grandmother’s house, and cruising (“pilluralli”) through snowy landscapes conveyed a Northern Ostrobothnian identity and emotional attachment. The memories were collected from the three Oulu-based artists’ own and shared experiences, as well as from narratives passed down by older generations. The works drew inspiration from several decades of life in Oulu.
The installations explored the possibilities of Northern Ostrobothnian aesthetics within installation art. What did northern aesthetics offer as a foundation for strong emotional transference in visual art? What distinguished Northern Ostrobothnian identity from other forms of Finnish nostalgia?
The installations were designed to create as immersive an experience of Northern Ostrobothnian identity as possible. The works include video and audio material, for which the taxis were equipped with headphones and screens. The videos consisted of short loops ranging from one minute to a few minutes in length.
Halminen worked on the project as the producer and with other artists creating the artworks. The project will launch in January 2026.