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Recharge Your Brain – Lataa aivosi

A Brown Bear Plays Grand Piano in a Park in Helsinki

Kävimme alkusyksystä katsomassa miltä Finlandia-talon entisellä parkkipaikalla nykyään näyttää. Siellä oli vihreää. Ja flyygeli. Karhua siellä ei ollut vaikka 2020-luvun Helsingissä voi muuten bongailla monenlaisia puolikesyjä villejä eläimiä. Pyysimme siis Google Geminiä lisäämään maisemaan soittavan karhun. Tällainen syntyi. Melko söpöä, eikös! Ehdotuksemme kaamoksen valtaaman kaupungin elävöittämistä pohtiville virkamiestyöryhmille: lisää soittotaitoisia karhuja Helsinkiin!

Early this autumn we went to see what the former parking lot of Finlandia Hall looks like these days. It was green. And there was a grand piano. There wasn’t a bear, though — even if in Helsinki of the 2020s you can spot all sorts of semi-tame wild animals. So we asked Google Gemini to add a piano-playing bear to the scene. This is what it came up with. Pretty cute, right?

Our proposal for the working groups pondering how to enliven a city swallowed by the winter darkness: more musically gifted bears in Helsinki!

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The Harbour of Humanity – Aki Kaurismäki’s Helsinki

Kaurismäki’s Helsinki is a humanist manifesto. A more humane and slower world is still possible to find—if only one knows which way to look.
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Helsinki: A Permanent Geopolitical Focal Point for Spies

The war of spies on Helsinki's streets, in its cabinets, and in digital networks is continuous. Its ultimate goal is always the same.
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If Sibelius Lived Today: National Heroes and the Culture Wars of the 2020s

Jean Sibelius and his contemporaries forged the Finnish identity, but would they be accepted by its modern-day defenders? A hypothetical journey through time reveals that the masters of the Golden Age would today more likely be cosmopolitan climate activists than nationalist populists.
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The City That Forgot Its Children

An archaeological excavation into the city’s memory reveals layers we have covered with nationalism and simplifications.
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Helsinki First – What if Donald Trump Became the Ruler of the Capital?

"Let's imagine that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, were the Mayor of Helsinki, implementing his political agenda in the city. How would it change Helsinki? And in particular: how would it impact the daily lives of city residents?"
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Report from Behind the Wall: A Day in Mayor Trump’s  Helsinki

Donald Trump has been elected Mayor of Helsinki, backed by a simple majority in the city council. Helsinki has declared itself an independent city-state, and the Mayor can now implement his visions without regard for the constraints of the Nordic rule of law.
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Christmas in the City of Concrete: Warmth in a Brutal Setting

The windswept bridges of Pasila, the concrete platforms of Merihaka, and the apartment blocks rising amidst the woods in the east. How does a resident of Helsinki build the Christmas spirit in their heart?
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City of Shadows: Helsinki’s Very Own Ghosts

Helsinki's ghost stories are not random. Behind them are, almost without exception, real historical tragedies.
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Shadows of Helsinki: Intangible Cultural Heritage, Urban Legends, and Historical Stratification in the Capital’s Ghost Tradition

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The Lunch Buffet is a Daily Ritual of Humiliation for the Finnish Worker

This is not lunch; this is a battlefield. And we are losing the war against our own biology.
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What would Helsinki look like through the eyes of a South American Nobel laureate? We asked AI to bring the city to life through the lens of magical realism.
Do polar bears hibernate?

No. They dance on ice!

Kluuvinlahti in Helsinki’s Kulosaari had gained a paper-thin layer of ice today, 27 November 2025. At our request, Google Gemini captured this lovestruck pair of bears. The background — lighting and all — is real.

A Huge Whale Jumps from the Sea in Helsinki

Helsinki is planning to demolish the Kulosaari Bridge because its concrete structures are in poor condition. The suspected cause has been sloppy construction. In reality, however, the bridge’s pillars are being weakened by whales bumping into them. You see, the whales have taken an interest in tourism and swim into Vanhankaupunginlahti to admire the original site of Helsinki, the landscapes around the old royal manor. Or at least they would—if AI had its way.

This video was created for us by Google Gemini, based on a photo snapped from the rooftop park of Redi, looking northeast.

A Brown Bear Plays Grand Piano in a Park in Helsinki
A Steam Punk Dragon flies in Helsinki

Unauthorized drones over Helsinki? Not anymore — Helsinki.moi came up with a way to protect the city’s airspace from intruders: by releasing a few mechanical dragons into the sky. Natural, beautiful, and effective. At least if you ask AI.

Drone problem: solved. But who will chase away the seagulls stealing meat pies at the Market Square?