Maja Ambient is an experimental sound piece that invites listeners to connect with their environment through sound. It will take place on 30 August and is organised by Maja Coffee Roastery (Kaya Nishikori and Tapani Huovinen). The event explores how the environment resonates with the human subconscious, aiming to evoke a feeling in those arriving — gently preparing them for a shift in time and space.
Held on Lasipalatsi Square, the program features seven artists and collectives working at the intersection of sound, performance, and sensory experience. Through continuous ambient soundscapes and site-specific performances, Maja Ambient encourages a heightened awareness of space, time, and community.
Artists:
Olli Aarni, Marja Ahti, Hanten Bureau, Koekeittiö / Test Kitchen, Patrick Kosk, Mikko Kuorinki, and Tuomas Toivonen.
OLLI AARNI
Olli Aarni is an artist working with music and sound. His practice moves across the boundaries of various techniques and approaches, creating works that both soothe the emotions and tickle the mind. Aarni’s soundscapes are delicately multilayered—teeming, swirling, and immersive.
His work has been released on record across four continents, with over twenty albums to date. In addition to recordings, Aarni has created installations, sound poetry, interactive online sound pieces, and radiophonic works.
MARJA AHTI
Marja Ahti (b. 1981, Luleå) is a Turku based sound artist working in composition, installation and cross-disciplinary performance.
Working with field recordings, sounds of everyday objects and materials, analog synthesis, digital processing and acoustic instrumentation she creates precise musical narratives with organically unfolding sequences of details and textures. Her patiently evolving electro-acoustic constructions suggest a poetic realm between the acousmatic and the documentaristic, between abstraction and the deeply familiar.
HANTEN BUREAU
Hanten Bureau is a sound art collective based in Helsinki, featuring Saku Kämäräinen, Alisa Naer, Dimitris Tatsis, and Sohei Yasui.
At the heart of the quartet’s work is the weaving of multi-layered sounds, guided by the spirit of free improvisation. Their site-specific live performances invite audiences on eclectic musical journeys through time and space, moving fluidly between abstract and concrete soundscapes.
Named after the Japanese word for invert, the collective embraces complexity within simplicity – reimagining the ordinary to reveal hidden layers of beauty and meaning.
KOEKEITTIÖ / TEST KITCHEN
Koekeittiö / Test Kitchen is a space for artistic practices that intersect with edible materials, food cultures and the restaurant world, initiated by seven artists to whom food is, in various ways, a part of their personal artistic expression.
PATRICK KOSK
With roots in musique concrète, Patrick Kosk (b. 1951) began as an amateur and autodidact, later pursuing studies and early compositions at the electronic music studio in the University of Helsinki. Further training in computer music followed at Yleisradio (Finnish Broadcasting Company), INA-GRM in Paris, and the Technische Universität Berlin.
Kosk’s works have been performed both in Europe and internationally, spanning over 100 productions. In addition to electroacoustic compositions, his practice includes collaborations in stage and dance productions, performance art, radiophonic works, text compositions, poetry performance, short film, and experimental music ensembles. He has performed extensively in Finland, across the Nordic countries, Germany, and Estonia.
MIKKO KUORINKI
Mikko Kuorinki (b. 1977, Rovaniemi) has created music in addition to his own name, under various aliases including Pelle Lasisilmä, Supermarket Son, Kuorinki, and Kiillesermi. He has also played in groups such as Chamellows, Munuaissymposium 1960, and Millenium (working title).
TUOMAS TOIVONEN
Tuomas Toivonen (b. 1975, Helsinki) is a musician, architect, and co-founder of Kulttuurisauna in Helsinki. An enigmatic artist by nature and architect by profession, he has made a lasting impact on Finnish underground culture. Toivonen is a founding member of the hip hop/dub/electronic orchestra Giant Robot, and has released two seminal solo albums of introspective, analog-driven techno via the legendary Stupido Records and Keys of Life. He is also a member of the Acid Symphony Orchestra.
His current solo performances explore a meditative blend of electro-acoustic drone and ambient soundscapes, featuring the kantele and his own voice.
