The Library designed, Stara built and the Multicoloured Dreams team finished a 40-metre long and 2.5-metre high city art wall and game board situated in Kansalaistori Square at the Central Library site. It formed the City Wheel (Kaupunkihyrrä) game, unveiled on 16 June. The wheel will mark the location planned for the Central Library in Töölönlahti and amuse the people enjoying summer in the city.
The game combines traditional party games, art intervention and actions for a better city. The City Wheel encourages people to share the joy of play and discovery, turn the city into a living room and find new dimensions in Helsinki. It also provides information and a taste of what the library of the new era will offer.
The City Wheel located in the middle of a 40-metre long and 2.5-metre high wall is spun like the wheel of fortune and will give its spinner activating tasks and questions related to the city and culture. Anybody can play the game, whenever they want to, and no other equipment is needed. In some of the tasks, a smart phone can help.
Come and enjoy the Helsinki outdoor season by spinning around.
The Töölönlahti area has been in the headlines quite a lot lately. It embodies the many kinds of hopes related to public urban space that is open for all: after all it is about to turn into an entire cultural campus, and the new Central Library will be a part of it.
“Come and spin the wheel! It’s a homage to the city dwellers and all people spending a summer’s day in Töölönlahti. I hope that the City Wheel will be a source of joy amidst people’s daily lives and will also bring forth new ideas about what kind of city we would like to see Helsinki evolve into. Kansalaistori Square has all it takes to become a place where people can spend time, do and share things together, not just pass by,” says Virve Miettinen, the Central Library’s Interaction Designer.
“As it is, the urban space is also a sort of a visual forum, a location for lively dialogue: the way that market places and agoras have always been. The City Wheel is one message among many – but it also includes an interactive element. If an urban environment was considered social media, could it make people communicate more with strangers live and in person?” asks Elissa Eriksson, a member of the Multicoloured Dreams street art team. In 2011, Erikkson completed her Haluan nähdä muutakin (I want to see more ) campaign.
The new Central Library is planned to be located at Töölönlahti
With the Central Library, an exceptionally fine, modern urban space is in the process of being created in Helsinki; the space includes the Parliament Building, the Music Centre, the Finlandia Hall, the Sanoma House, the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, and the Central Library. The Central Library is being planned to become a building that serves as the focus of the genuinely public space in the Töölönlahti area.
Watch the video!