2020

ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival
27.10.-1.11.2020

“Let’s do the thing that has been so difficult to do this year, let’s gather together. Let’s do that in acknowledgement that many around the world cannot, that we are fortunate that we can and that we’ll value the experience anew as we’ve learnt in so many other parts of lives to not take simple pleasures for granted. Not that ANTI Festival is a simple pleasure, it’s a complicated, intense, rich, and aromatic pleasure for those that prefer a taste of something strikingly unusual,”

Artistic Directors Johanna Tuukkanen and Gregg Whelan say.


We have of course designed this festival to take into account everything needed for us all to be safe. Please find our instructions for a safe festival experience here.


The 19th edition of ANTI Festival celebrates Kuopio’s winning nomination as the European Region of Gastronomy 2020-2021
coordinated by ProAgria Eastern Finland, Rural Women’s Advisory Organisation and Savonia University.

Food is personal, private, deeply social, public, political, it speaks to industry, to production, to micro, local, national and international economies and ecologies, it is global, it is domestic. The festival programme takes on food from provocative and unique perspectives. Projects range from the intimate to the communal, we’ll be offered a window into the lives of strangers and be given opportunities to make new friends, we’ll eat together, think together, walk together and be together in ways that perhaps we haven’t for some time now.

Our Artistic Directors reflect further on the programme in their curatorial statement.


This year’s festival marks the 2nd edition of Shortlist LIVE! and we’re thrilled to present the four shortlisted artists for the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art through a mix of live and remote showings – a unique set of artists and artworks for a unique year.

On Saturday 31st October in Kuopio, we will award ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art, one of world’s most exciting cultural prize for the 7th time.


Download the 2020 Programme and Daily Schedule (pdf) HERE!

Thursday 22.10.      11.00 – 18.00
Friday 23.10.           11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 24.10.      10.00 – 15.00
Tuesday 27.10.         11.00 – 18.00
 Wednesday 28.10.   11.00 – 18.00
 Thursday 29.10.       11.00 – 18.00
 Friday 30.10.           11.00 – 18.00
 Saturday 31.10.       10.00 – 15.00

Shopping centre Apaja | Kauppakatu 45, entrance E
Accessible Event Read more ▸

Saturday 24.10.     11.00 – 14.00
Monday 26.10.       13.00 – 19.00
Tuesday 27.10.        13.00 – 19.00
Wednesday 28.10.  13.00 – 19.00
Thursday 29.10.       13.00 – 19.00

Shopping Centre Minna, 2nd floor | Haapaniemenkatu 18
Accessible Event Read more ▸

Tuesday 27.10.     13.00 – 19.00
Wednesday 28.10.     13.00 – 19.00
Thursday 29.10.     13.00 – 19.00
Friday 30.10.     10.00 – 14.00

Kuopio City Library | Maaherrankatu 12
Accessible Event

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Tuesday 27.10.           16.00 – 19.00
Wednesday 28.10.     15.00 – 18.00
Thursday 29.10.          18.00 – 21.00

PAOK Kuopio | Asemakatu 4
Accessible Event

BOOK YOUR SEAT

Buy Cakes for thought 27.-31.10.
Café Kaneli | Kauppakatu 22
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Cakes for thought is a project led by artist Marja Viitahuhta, where cakes and pastries are designed and made in honor of prominent feminist thinkers. The recipes are inspired by their ideas and work.

We arrange Cakes for thought workshops during the ANTI Festival 2020. You may also bake the cakes at home; below the Cakes for thought Recipe Book!
Read more ▸

Tuesday 27.10.    19.00
Festival Centre |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo), street level
Accessible Event

BOOK YOUR SEAT

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     Wednesday 28.10.      15.00 – 21.00
           Thursday 29.10.       12.00 – 20.00
Gallery Ars Libera |  Maaherrankatu 3
PRIVATE: On Wednesday and Thursday the encounters are private.

            Saturday 31.10.       12.00 – 14.00
Store room, street level |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo)
Accessible Event
PUBLIC: On Saturday the encounters happen in front of audiences.

BOOK YOUR SEAT Read more ▸

Wednesday 28.10.  16.00 – 22.00
Thursday 29.10.       
16.00 – 22.00
Friday 30.10.          
16.00 – 22.00
Saturday 31.10.        
12.00 – 18.00

Restaurant Sampo | Kauppakatu 13
Accessible Event

BOOK YOUR SEAT Read more ▸

Wednesday 28.10.     16.00 – 21.00
Thursday 29.10.     16.00 – 21.00
Friday 30.10.     16.00 – 19.00

VR Konepaja | Pohjolankatu 1
Accessible Event

Homemade RC Toy installation presents Geumhyung Jeong’s self-made robotic sculptures.
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  Wednesday 28.10.    20.00
  Thursday 29.10.        20.00

Kristallisali | Piispankatu 8
Accessible Event
Dinner ticket: 10€

BOOK YOUR SEAT

Read more ▸

Thursday 29.10.    14.00 
Friday 30.10.        
14.00 
Saturday 31.10.    
10.00 
Sunday 1.11.          
12.00

Starting point: K-market Pihlajalaakso | Poukamankatu 6

BOOK YOUR SEAT

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Thursday 29.10. 19.00 – 21.00

Shopping Centre H-talo, street level | Haapaniemenkatu 20
Accessible Event

BOOK YOUR SEAT

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 Friday 30.10.      11.45 – 18.30
Saturday 31.10   
10.15 – 17.30
Sunday 1.11.        
10.15 – 13.30

Puijonnokka | Puijo forest

BOOK YOUR SEAT

Read more ▸

Friday 30.10.      15.00 – 18.00
Saturday 31.10.  10.00 – 13.00
Sunday 1.11.        10.00 – 13.00

Private apartment | Haapaniemenkatu 40 A 3

How do you express yourself when Alzheimer’s disease is changing you to the core? If we don’t reach for gold but for silver, will our society, overheated by competition, become more equal?
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Saturday 31.10.   12.00 – 16.00

Galleria Ars Libera |  Maaherrankatu 3

In this intervention, the students at Aalto Arts university are refiguring the term in the context of food and social distancing. What is the role of sharing a meal with others?

How dead is still life? Is my life still life?

Read more ▸

Saturday 31.10.     16.45

ITAK Stage | Suokatu 42/2
Accessible Event

A Sheet as sail will be filmed and edited to an independent post-improvisation film that will be presented at ANTI Festival!

BOOK YOUR SEAT

Read more ▸

Sunday 25.10.     12.00

Liveworks Festival | Sydney, Australia
& Live Stream

A ghost lecture-performance that speculates on the future we are moving toward.

The work is part of Shortlist LIVE! Programme and nominated for the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art Award.

BOOK YOUR SEATS HERE (Live Stream, $15)

Read more ▸

Friday 30.10.    19.00

            VR Konepaja | Pohjolankatu 1
Accessible Event

The work is part of Shortlist LIVE! Programme and nominated for the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art Award.

BOOK YOUR SEAT Read more ▸

Friday 30.10.     21.00

Lumit, Kuopio Senior High School of Arts | Minna Canthin katu 46
Accessible Event

The work is part of Shortlist LIVE! and nominated for the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art Award.

BOOK YOUR SEAT Read more ▸

Saturday 31.10.     15.00

ITAK Stage | Suokatu 42/2
Accessible Event

The work is part of Shortlist LIVE! and nominated for the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art Award.

BOOK YOUR SEAT

Read more ▸

Saturday 31.10.   19.00 – 01.00

          Konepaja | Pohjolankatu 1, Kuopio
Accessible Event
Age Limit: 18

In ANTI Prize Party, we will celebrate the festival week, the Shortlist LIVE! Programme and the 2020 Winner of ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art with drinks, food, artistic interventions and live music! Read more ▸

Monday 9.9. – Saturday 14.9. 9.00-18.00

Kuopio Market Square | Kauppakatu 45, Kuopio

Visit the Festival Centre to ask for more information, get the programme prints and spend time with us!

Read more ▸

Tuesday 20.10. – Saturday 31.10.

Festival Centre |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo)
Accessible Event

The Global City Local City lab brings together artists and curators whose work centers upon hyper-localised or locally-responsive approaches to place, responds to local sites, or engages with local histories, situations or conditions.
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Friday 30.10.     12.00 – 17.00

Festival Centre |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo), street level
& Online

Artists from the Global City Local City Lab, collaborating across distance, share work in progress in the Festival Centre: Read more ▸

Friday 30.10.    13.30 – 17.00
Online event: Join the Zoom meeting through THIS LINK

Or visit Festival Centre |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo), street level

11.30 – 15.00 *Reykjavik, Penryn, Hastings
13.30 – 17.00 *Kuopio
19.30 – 23.00 *Taipei
22.30 – 02.00 *Castlemaine
??:00 – ??:00 *Where you are Read more ▸

  Tuesday 27.10.     12.00 – 14.30
    Thursday 29.10.     12.00 – 14.30
  Friday 30.10.   10.00 – 12.00 & 13.00 – 16.00
Saturday 31.10.     11.00 – 14.00

Festival Centre |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo)
Accessible Event

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Tuesday 27.10.   17.00

Festival Centre |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo)
Accessible Event

BOOK YOUR SEAT

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Wednesday 28.10.       14.00 – 16.00

Festival Centre |  Haapaniemenkatu 20 (H-talo)
Accessible Event – Discussions in Finnish

BOOK YOUR SEAT Read more ▸

Wednesday 28.10. – Saturday 31.10.
Different festival venues

Saturday 31.10.     21.15
ANTI Prize Party | Konepaja | Pohjolankatu 1, Kuopio Read more ▸