The forest takes over Stoa in April

Troops are being gathered to defend the forests! Read about the symposium!

The Stoa Cultural Center in Helsinki's Itäkeskus will be filled with Metsäliike’s events in April! The forest-themed event series will spread throughout April and include the Tukikohtaaminen exhibition, workshops, discussion evenings, and the main event, the Forest Defense Symposium, to be held on Sunday, April 6, 2025.

The events bring together forest lovers – artists and scientists, forest surveyors and activists, forest rangers and local forest activists, and everyone who wants to be involved in defending the rapidly diminishing valuable municipal and state forests.

T u k i k o h t a a m i n e n-exhibition

In addition to the symposium, Metsäliike will take over Stoa for the entire month of April. There will be a month-long exhibition by Maan puolustusvoimien and Metsäliike, called T u k o h t a m i n e n , where you can take a peek at how maps are used and created in the protection of forest nature. In the exhibition, lines drawn on maps meet living ecosystems and their creatures. The exhibition presents significant forest mapping results as well as a multidisciplinary and experimental approach to mapping. Other forms of defending the land and forests are also on display.

In the works in the joint exhibition by Maan puolustusvoimien and Metsäliike, lines drawn on maps meet living ecosystems and their creatures. The exhibition presents significant scientific forest mapping results as well as a multidisciplinary and experimental approach to mapping. Many other forms of defending the forests and art are also on display. Collaborators in the exhibition include, among others:Luonnonmetsät Sápmi -työryhmä, Luonnonmetsätyöryhmä amd Luontoliito’s Metsäryhmä.

The Forest Protection Symposium offers a diverse program that reflects on forests, which will be held in the Stoa Gallery, the lobby and the theatre hall. The program consists of different forms of art, perspectives from science and forest expertise and citizen activism, as well as discussions and participatory content. The program is a comprehensive one and it is worth coming to the event from the beginning, but it is also possible to arrive throughout the day. The program also includes art sections, the exact time of which will not be announced. Admission to the event is free.

The symposium will feature leading forest researchers and experts. The speeches and panels will include non-fiction writer Petri Keto-Tokoi, Director of the Finnish Environment Institute's Societal Change Unit Riikka Paloniemi, and artist and researcher Antti Majava from the BIOS Research Unit. During the day, topics such as forest policy and ecology, the need to protect municipal and state forests and methods of citizen engagement will be discussed. A special focus will be placed on the state's last old-growth and natural forests (luonnonmetsä)*, of which there are very few remaining.

In addition to the speech program and active discussion, there will be musical performances, dance, stage poetry, workshops and much more. The symposium will bring us together at the edge of the forest to learn, experience, discuss, be moved and be impressed – Come and discuss with forest patrollers, watch the butoh performance that will be part of the event and participate in the event.

The goals of the event are to bring together supporters, potential allies and partners who stand on the side of the forests and to provide a space to experience and deal with both the issues and the emotions related to them, and to raise the spirit of unity among the actors.

In the event, we will build a common vision for protecting the forests, which will provide participants with guidelines on how it is possible to participate in defending the forests in their own way and from their own starting points right now.