The construction site walls in Narinkkatori – Jugix2, Juha Liede, Kirsi-Maria Raunio

The new culture center Kulttuurikasarmi is still being built, but art is already on display!

The walls of the construction site were painted by three artists: Jukka Metsäaho aka Jugix2, Juha Liede and Kirsi-Maria Raunio. The walls were painted at the beginning of July in 2023.

Kulttuurikasarmi will open in front of Kamppi shopping center.

The art pieces reflect the kinds of cultural experiences that Kulttuurikasarmi will offer: cinema, food, and music.

Jugix2, who draws influences from the graffiti scene of the early 90s, painted characters familiar from movies such as Uma Thurman’s character Mia Wallace in the cult classic Pulp Fiction as well as the scar-faced Joker, who has jumped from the pages of a comic book to the movie screen. The artist describes: “I wanted to depict legendary and strong characters from different film genres in black and white, which would still be connected by the filmstrip and the red highlight.”

Known for her colorful and nature themed street art pieces, Kirsi-Maria Raunio painted colorful fruits and vegetables to the wall of the construction site, which hint to the coming delicacies Kulttuurikasarmi’s restaurants will offer.

“Food mainly comes from nature, so I wanted to focus on that aspect. The fruits in my piece refer to delicacy and abundance, which I believe we can also experience inside Kulttuurikasarmi after it has opened. I wanted to bring together different moments that we could experience in a coffee shop while also keeping the illustration clear – moments that also have a little surrealist feel to them.

Recently I’ve been thinking about humans as a species and as primates we have the ability to reach out and grab things. For this reason I wanted to only depict people as hands in my illustration to emphasize that meaning. Hands also symbolize contact, which plays a huge role in eating together. Through these themes I began to sketch out the piece.

Juha Liede, who is known for his letter pieces, was in charge of the music theme and painted comic-like instruments: guitars and drums.

Kirsi-Maria says that the painting project also raised the interest of the passers-by: “People came to chat or they thanked me as they walked by. For the most part I could work in peace and working even in a place as busy as this was nice. One day, a father came by with his child to watch me work. As they watched me, the father explained what I was doing to the child. I was mixing paint at the time, and suddenly became very aware of my work and what I do at each moment.”

Jugix2 tells that painting in a busy place was a new challenge:

“I enjoy painting in my own peace so I knew that this work gig would be different. I got some funny comments: Hey, this dude paints as well as Arhinmäki and Hey, I think the cigarette can’t be that clean if the man is that rough, fix it”, Jugix2 describes.

The paintings are on display in Narinkkatori until October 2023.