Asemkaava
2023Seinäjoki Railway Station, Finland
August 2023
Participatory public artwork / community embroidery
Invited by artists Alan Bulfin and Pii Anttila as part of Generous Autonomy.
Seinäjoki is a regional city in South Ostrobothnia, western Finland, around 360 km north of Helsinki. The city developed around an important railway junction, making the station a significant part of both its history and everyday life.
Asemakaava took place at a moment when the station area was undergoing major redevelopment and the existing railway station was due to be demolished. I wanted to create a temporary space where people could stop, spend time together and leave a physical trace of their relationship with a place that was about to disappear.
During one weekend, I invited passengers, local residents, railway users and passers-by to collectively embroider a map of Seinäjoki railway station and its surroundings.
The project operated as an open, drop-in artwork. No previous experience was required. Someone could contribute a few stitches while waiting for a train, stay for a longer conversation, or come specifically to participate.
Embroidery introduced a deliberately slow and tactile process into a space normally defined by movement, schedules, arrivals and departures. As people worked, conversations emerged about travelling, memories of the station, the city and its transformation.
Each participant added a small individual gesture. Together, these gestures gradually formed a collective record of the station — not an accurate geographical map, but a map shaped by memory, encounters, time and human presence.
Asemakaava continued my interest in temporary and transitional spaces, participation and the ways people make places their own. The railway station became, briefly, not only somewhere to pass through but somewhere to stop, make and be together.
Support: Finnish Cultural Foundation
