On Thursday 25 September, the Tornionlaakso Museum will open a new temporary exhibition All Points North – The Barracks Villages of the Continuation War from Vaakunakylä to Hirsikankaanmäki. The exhibition is based on the results of the research project ” A Contemporary Archaeological Perspective on the Inequalities of Welfare Society: the Vaakunakylä Village of Oulu and its Inhabitants from 1947 to 2025 “. The research focuses on the post-war communities of Vaakunakylä in Oulu’s Hietasaari. The exhibition brings a local perspective to the research on the German veterinary centre in Kaakamo Hirsikankaanmäki in Alatornio.

“The unique history of Oulun Vaakunakylä, which was always residential until the late 1980s, was explored through archaeological excavations carried out between 2020 and 2022, before the 2025 housing exhibition area built on the site would destroy the signs of the area’s past inhabitants and their daily lives,” says archaeologist Marika Hyttinen.

The exhibition combines archaeological research, memory, archival material and contemporary art, with visual artist Ari Björn using art to interpret the project’s findings, history, stories and excavation finds. Björn has been working as a visual artist since 2007 and has organised several solo exhibitions in Finland and participated in group exhibitions abroad.

“The exhibition as a whole is based on the human experience from different angles, both the relationship of the environment to Vaakunakylä and the relationship of Vaakunakylä residents to the surrounding community, and the spatio-temporal experience of the viewer. As an artist, when making the works, I reflect on the relationship between expression and documentary, how to be in this context and create a whole that is at the same time true, but at the same time retains freedom of expression,” says Björn.

The Torne valley museums website will also host an online exhibition on the same theme: ‘ War Victims in the Tornio area – plants from the German troops’. Archaeologist Annemari Tranberg’s research is accompanied by charming illustrations by Miila Kankaanranta from Lapin Kanska.

“The aim of the exhibition is to remind us that there are more signs of the past in our environment than just structures and artefacts. Polemoches, or war-bearing plants, are living examples of the changes caused by war,” says Tranberg.

The exhibition opens on the Tornion Valley Museum website on 26 September 2025.

The opening of theAll Points North exhibition will take place on Thursday 25 September at 18.00 and is open to the public. In the opening programme, researchers Marika Hyttinen and Tuuli Matila will talk about the research project behind the exhibition, and Aine Art Museum Director Virpi Kanniainen will interview the exhibition’s artist Ari Björn.

The exhibition is open to the public at the Torne valley museum from 26 September to 26 October 2025.

Titta Kallio-Seppä, Museum Director, Tornionlaakson museo – Tornedalens museum, +35850 5971557, titta.kallio-seppa@tornio.fi

Ari Björn, Visual Artist, Art & Process, +35840 5415173, Ari.Bjorn@oulu.fi

Researcher Marika Hyttinen, University of Oulu, Marika.Hyttinen@oulu.fi