Punk arrived in Helsinki half a century ago, and the self-made subculture still lives strongly today. The joint exhibition of the Helsinki City Museum and Punkmuseo examines 50 years of Helsinki punk history, starting 23 October.
Leather jackets and mohawks, zines and self-published works, sweaty gigs and a do-it-yourself attitude. The exhibition PUNK! 50 vuotta säpinää Helsingin kaduilla takes visitors to significant meeting places from the late 1970s to the present day – from the Kill City block to Lepakko and from Oskun Divari to Vuoritalo.
The story of Finnish punk can be immersed in through photographs, video interviews, record sleeves, zines, gig posters, clothing and instruments, as well as other objects. On display are, among other things, Pelle Miljoona's self-built drum stool and Maukka Perusjätkä's chainsaw.
Punk classics play on the jukebox, there is pogoing in the pit room, and in the rehearsal space you can pick up instruments. Accompanied by the young band Mökä, visitors follow how punk music is made in the 2020s. At the same time, the exhibition illuminates punk's journey from a resisted subculture to part of Finnish cultural history.