The Routes of Helsinki is a long-term soundscape project initiated by media artist and music producer Mikko H. Haapoja (MMus) in 2010. The project is about listening and capturing the sonic image of Helsinki, Finland, and creating radiophonic pieces, audiovisual installations and multidisciplinary art performances of it.
For April 2025, Mikko H. Haapoja is invited to have the 15th anniversary exhibitions of The Routes of Helsinki project in Tokyo and Hanno, Japan. The exhibitions will consist of a new multichannel audio-visual installation, in addition to another video piece (The First Route, 2014/2017) and multiple binaural sound works for headphones. In addition to the exhibitions, Haapoja and Kira Leskinen (MA), who together have created the visual design of the exhibitions, will give multidisciplinary art performances and artist talks.
Along with having the gallery exhibitions in Japan, Mikko H. Haapoja will create a mobile sound work, a generative binaural version of his piece ’Luotisuora’ (Beeline) about summer 2015 in the central Helsinki. The new site specific ’Beeline’ is set to be experienced in the bustle of central Tokyo using a GPS based mobile web app. The original piece is part of Helsinki City Museum’s permanent exhibition.
For the 15th anniversary of The Routes of Helsinki project, Haapoja will also release a compilation album Helsingin reitit – Helsinki Soundtrack – a special urban experience collage for ears.
Haapoja’s art transports the listener to Helsinki, where the soundscape is constantly changing in cycles of the seasons, yet also rapidly over the years. Despite the growth of the city, one can still easily access and hear the forests in Helsinki and experience tranquil summer nights even in the center of the Nordic capital. The latest piece of The Routes of Helsinki project, ’Keskusmetsä’ (The Central Forest) about preserving nature within the city represented Finland in the European Broadcasting Union’s Prix Palma Ars Acustica competition in 2023.
Haapoja’s Helsinki soundscape exhibitions in Tokyo and Hanno in April 2025 are the first-ever Finnish solo exhibitions in Japan in the field of urban soundscape art.
