The fifth edition of Drifts Festival brings together artists and thinkers from around the world to explore landscapes as sites of ecological, cultural, and political tension. In 2025, the festival takes place in Helsinki across Malmitalo, Ala-Malmi Park, and Artspace SIC in the Malmi district from 14 August to 10 September 2025. Entry to the festival is free of charge.
As a partner of Drifts from 2025 to 2027, Saastamoinen Foundation supports the festival’s vision of fostering critical dialogue at the intersection of art, ecology, and society. This partnership reflects the Foundation’s commitment to nurturing experimental and socially engaged art practices, both in Finland and internationally.
Unknown Territories is a three-year artistic initiative that embarks on spiritual and geographical journeys across forests in 2025, seas in 2026, and archipelagos in 2027. It centers on the concept of geographic exploration as a pathway to uncover hidden cultural terrains, from forgotten histories and Indigenous knowledge to practices, rituals, and memories entangled with nature.
In 2025, Unknown Territories: Forests confronts the devastating impacts of extractivism, capitalism, and urban expansion on forests, which are interwoven with cultural myths, Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity. In a time of ecological crisis, it envisions these living landscapes as spaces of resilience and radical imagination, opening pathways toward planetary futures where human and more-than-human coexist.
The program features local and international practitioners presenting audiovisual performances, film screenings, lecture performances, and exhibitions. The festival is free to the public.
“This collaboration with the Saastamoinen Foundation enables us to deepen our commitment to transnational dialogue, plural knowledge systems, and critical discourse. It strengthens our shared values and dedication to supporting artistic practices that address ecological and social challenges across borders and disciplines. We are grateful for the Foundation’s support in co-creating this journey, expanding our vision in cultural plurality, artistic experimentation, and socially engaged art.
Drifts Festival 2025 creates a space for diverse voices, practices, and communities, bridging geographies and generations. Through this year’s edition, Unknown Territories: Forests, we address forgotten histories, the memories of diverse communities, and more-than-human relationships interwoven into the fabric of forests. We present a range of artistic practices that broaden our perception of forests, revealing them not as mere natural resources but as living, storied landscapes shaped by complex cultural, ecological, and historical entanglements. In the face of today’s ecological crisis, the festival’s artworks and public programs invite us to pause, reflect, and rethink our relationships with forests.
This three-year journey aims to revive Indigenous knowledge and open space for questioning the dominant systems formed by colonial and exploitative practices, while reflecting on coexistence and the resilience of our natural world. Through this collaborative partnership, we are fostering a dynamic and inclusive arts scene in Finland that responds to the urgencies of our time while imagining alternative possibilities for and with future generations,” says Soko Hwang, artist, curator and the artistic director of Drifts Festival.
Participants of the Drifts Festival 2025 are:
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Anton Vidokle, Forensis(Forensic Architecture) & Bill Kouligas, Laura Huertas Millán, Satu Herrala, Alma Heikkilä, Sauli Sirviö, Niina Tervo, Nomadic Kiln Group, Ana Vaz, Jas Lin & Fitness, Lotta Petronella, Soko Hwang, Marja Viitahuhta, Leena Lehti, Sara Gebran, Shubhangi Singh, Kristiina Koskentola, Petra Hermanova, Hongxi Li, Heta Bilaletdin, Seung Ae Lee, Katie Paterson, Go-Eun Im, Tuomas Toivonen, Patrik Söderlund, Anna Pesonen, Fanni Niemi-Junkola, Alejandra Alarcón and more.
From 2025 to 2027, Drifts Festival is in collaboration partnership with Saastamoinen Foundation. In 2025, other partners to the festival are Nordic Culture Point, Malmitalo, Artspace SIC, Finnish Institute UK & Ireland, Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, Finnland-Institut, Goethe-Institut Finnland, AV-ARKKI, Up Node and NERDS with support from the City of Helsinki, Nordic Culture Fund, and 1664.
Read more about Drifts Festival here.
