Swan Song
Juha Rouhikoski
- Location: Manilla Cultural Factory, Itäinen Rantakatu 64b
- Time: 4–7 December 2025, 4–9 p.m. and 7 December 2025, 8–10 a.m.
How enchanting beauty and danger can be when Swan Song is revealed to its discoverers! Swan Song takes the viewer into the mythological world of majestic swans. The work is based on Finnish folklore and the story of the Tuonela swan, drawing inspiration from both the Kalevala and Jean Sibelius’s work of the same name.
In the work, the viewer steps up to the banks of the Tuonela River to watch a delicate creature walking along a virtual beam of light that cuts high through the work space. The creature tries to survive the dangers without falling into the Tuonela River flowing below.
Swan Song is a virtual work of art that is created by using AR technology. The work is based on augmented reality, which can be viewed on a smartphone or tablet via an app called TARINA. You can find the work by moving the TARINA app’s camera around the space. When you are in front of the work, you can ponder what is real and what is unreal. You can download the TARINA app for free onto your smart device from the App Store or Google Play.
Juha Rouhikoski is a Finnish light artist. He has been working with light since 1994. In his artistic work, he constantly seeks new ways to utilise the secret, visible and invisible wavelengths of light.
Kulttuuritehdas Manilla is a multi-art cultural factory on the banks of the Aura River, founded in 1997 by the Pro Manilla Foundation.
Swan Song is part of the Path of Light produced by the Manilla Cultural Factory.