Tartu opens Finnish interactive light exhibition

On 21 October 2026 at 17:00, Pallas Gallery in Tartu opens Varju valgel, an exhibition of Finnish light artists held as part of Tartu Light Biennial TAVA26. The show brings together artists who work at the meeting point of art, technology and spatial practice and presents individual approaches from Finland’s light-art scene.

The works range from meditative installations to complex interactive environments and come from interdisciplinary experimentation. The gallery is arranged as one atmospheric space in which shadows expand, break and change in response to people in the room. Visitors’ movement becomes the balance point between light and shadow. The exhibition treats the oscillation of light and shadow as something that affects the sense of time and raises the question of which of the two comes first.

Varju valgel is open at Pallas Gallery from 21 October to 21 November 2026. The artists are Teemu Määttänen, Timo Kokko, Christine Candolin, Antti Tolvi, Jere Suontausta, Antti Hevosmaa, Alexander Salvesen, Saana Volanen and Anu Raatikainen. Elo Liiv is curator and Lotta Karoliina Räsänen is coordinator. Visual identity is by Margus Tamm. The organisers are MTÜ Valgusklubi and MTÜ Väike Valgus, with support from Tartu City Government, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Tartu Cultural Endowment and the Pallas art school.

After the opening, the evening continues at 19:00 at Thalia cinema on Aida Street 7, a venue titled Tartu’s ugliest place, with the opening of an installation by Katja Muttilainen. The main TAVA26 programme runs from 22 to 24 October in the University of Tartu Botanical Garden. On 22 October at 18:00 the biennial’s opening event begins, followed by a concert.