Flow gathers design and music enthusiasts

Flow Festival, which is being held for the 8th time this weekend in the historic Suvilahti power plant area, brings the most attractive names in music to Helsinki. In addition to music, the festival presents new design and art.

Flow’s new visual identity is based on idea of rhythm and repetition in music. The visual identity can be seen in the fence fabrics, signs and LED screens in the festival area. The stage visuals were produced by the VJFinland collective, whose work has been on display at Flow for several years. VJFinland promotes VJ (visual jockey) culture in Finland and brings some of the best local and international artists to Flow Festival every year.

The festival area has been divided into several spaces that differ in terms of content and atmosphere. The Flow area has been decorated once again by Jaana Saraste and Tom Gustafsson, whose design work at the festival has been highly praised in previous years. The festival area decoration utilises various kinds of recycled elements as well as materials provided by Flow Festival partner Marimekko and products from Fatboy.

The Umeshu sushi restaurant located in Suvilahti’s Studio Magito features Finnish design furniture by Martela. The furniture will be sold after the event at the Martela Outlet.

A new restaurant called Viini & Sapas is housed in the Tiivistämö space, and its decorations and furniture were designed by Jaana Karell using UPM Timber materials. The restaurant’s Finnish tapas, also known as sapas, were put together by the Finnish vegetarian restaurant Juuri.

A new visual art venue this year is Cirko, the Helsinki centre of new circus, where festival visitors can admire an impressive installation by Croatian artist Ivana Franke. Cirko also hosts experimental music in the form of The Other Sound concept.

This year the festival also includes a seminar programme for the first time ever. The Film Garage will be hosting the Flow studio, artist workshops and a panel discussion. The international Future Shorts short film selection presents a broad range of work by young, up-and-coming film makers on every day of the festival.

The youngest members of the family are also welcome at the festival area. Children aged 6 and under can enter the event free of charge with their ticket-holding guardian on Sunday from 2-4 pm. A diverse children’s programme will be arranged in the backyard of the event area.

Flow tickets are selling at a record pace this year. Flow tickets are available at Tiketti outlets and Stupido Shop.