Meet Ou. Ou likes children, for they often understand it better than grown-ups. You see, it is sometimes difficult for Ou to control its feelings, not to mention energy.
Pssst, teachers and pedagogues, our pages tailored to schools and other visiting groups are over here: Services for schools and preschools
At the museum
Arrival
The museum’s main entrance is in the Lasipalatsi (glass palace) building, on the Mannerheimintie side. An accessible entrance is located on Lasipalatsi Square’s side of the building.
Everyone under 18 years of age gets free admission. Ticket counters are at the museum’s main entrance and in the museum shop, closer to the accessible door and elevators.
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Space for keeping some baby carriages can be found at the end of the storage lockers in the cloakroom. Baby carriages can, however, be taken into the exhibitions. Strollers can also be borrowed, if needed, at the cloakroom. |
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A childcare station is available next to the cloakroom. |
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Breast-feeding is allowed anywhere in the museum. |
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Ear protectors for children can also be borrowed at the cloakroom. |
A museum’s main task is to care for the artworks so that they can be preserved intact forever. Museums also have rules, which must be obeyed so that everyone’s visit can be as pleasant as possible.
Important things to remember throughout your visit:
- The artworks must not be touched, not even by a little tap of the finger, unless it is clearly stated otherwise. This is because they could be damaged, dirtied or corroded. Did you know that the natural grease on our fingertips can, for instance, leave a mark on a hard bronze sculpture that can never be cleaned off? Even if nothing at first can be perceived with the naked eye.
- A good distance must be kept between yourself and the artworks, even if you would like to get a close look. Just think, even someone stumbling or sneezing could harm an artwork. It’s good to keep a distance to avoid any accidents.
- Visitors must walk through the museum calmly. You can be excited, but must not run. That’s because if you ran, you could trip and fall, and thereby damage irreplaceable cultural treasures.
- You certainly don’t need to be silent in the museum. Discuss the art, debate, share your opinions! But we ask that you take the other visitors into consideration, so that everyone has a pleasant museum visit.
- Emotions are allowed in the museum. If you feel like laughing, laugh, and if you feel like crying, that’s OK too.
And finally:
You must obey any instructions given by the museum staff. They are really nice people, and there’s no need to be shy of them. You can ask the museum staff all kinds of things, they know the museum inside out. On hand are also special guides whose job is to discuss with you – about the art or something else entirely. You will recognize the museum staff by their lavender coloured jackets!
Exhibitions
Anna Estarriola
Staged Circumstances and Piles of Things
2 April – 31 August 2025
A giant woollen beanie, an acrobat standing on their hair, a pile of glitter, and shaky piles of things—in Anna Estarriola’s Staged Circumstances and Piles of Things exhibition the impossible becomes possible and the world becomes exquisitely wonderful!
Staged Circumstances and Piles of Things – the title hints at Estarriola’s interests and at the kind of exhibition she has created. What sort of piles are we talking about? And what does it mean when something is staged?
“Staged” can mean that it has not actually happened, but has been made to look as if it has. For example, theater sets create rooms or forests on stage to make a performance appear real. Estarriola, too, acts as a kind of set designer. She works with great curiosity and persistence, often together with other experts. Aided, for example, by choir singers, carpenters, doctors, and robot builders she has created the most fantastic characters, moments – and yes, piles of things.
How do the different pieces of the world actually fit together? Luckily, when it comes to art, you don’t have to know. Instead, we recommend staying sharp-eyed here—Estarriola’s works are full of delicious details, sounds, and hidden messages.
The exhibition’s curator, i.e. the person who selected the works for the exhibition, is Katariina Timonen. Read more about the exhibition to assess whether it is suitable for you:
Enni-Kukka Tuomala: Expanding Empathies
2 April – 31 August 2025
Amos Rex’s art workshop space, Studio Rex, you’ll find Expanding Empathies, an exhibition by Enni-Kukka Tuomala. Tuomala has developed various artworks, methods and tools that can be used to explore empathy. You may have heard of empathy – it is the ability to imagine how another person feels. Empathy is often described as stepping into someone else’s shoes. And you can do it too! If you were to swap shoes with someone else, what would change and what would it feel like? It is also sometimes said that empathy is like a muscle, which can be trained to make it stronger. Tuomala’s exhibition invites us to do just that!
One work in the exhibition is recommended for adults only, but you can enjoy all the other artworks here – you can even get on top of them, see how they feel, and reflect/think about what it might be like to be in someone else’s shoes.
Children’s map of Anna Estarriola’s exhibition
Ou shares its tips for visiting the exhibition!
Ou has noticed that art can be experienced in lots of different ways. There are artworks that you can sit in, others invite you to press a button, while many of them are so fragile that you can’t touch them at all! Anna Estarriola’s works are just like that. Ou has figured out why this is so, and how to approach artworks that can’t be viewed up close.
Ou has put tips on the exhibition walls for three works: Performance for a Rock, Emerging Thoughts, and Piles of Things. Keep in mind that Ou can’t reach very high, so look lower down to find the tips.
Exhibition brochure
It is worth reading the exhibition brochure together with an adult. You can find the brochure either in the underground lobby, in the Studio Rex workshop space, or online.
Ou
Send your regards to Ou!
Have you made your own sightings of Ou in the museum? A tip: at least one place that Ou can almost certainly be found is in the museum’s cloakroom, where Ou has built a nest.
Tell us about your findings!
Ou's card game
Ponder art with Ou!
Play and discover about art with Ou.
Anna Estarriola’s exhibition is a great place to play Ou’s own card game! The game is perfect for anyone who wants to talk about art and about how it feels – but might need a little inspiration. You will find the Ou game in the exhibition. You can ask the staff to look for it with you. The game is recommended for ages 5 and up.
Ou's tour
Follow Ou on kids’ own guided art tours.
