Today by Kari-Petteri Kakko: Turku Mill Bridge Art

An Overview of Today

Tänään (Today) is an outdoor bronze sculpture created by Finnish artist Kari-Petteri Kakko. Situated on the western bank of the Aura River in Turku, the work portrays an adolescent seated in a lotus posture with over-ear headphones, gazing upward toward the open sky. Unveiled on September 15, 2013, during Turku Day (Turun päivä), the artwork is a permanent fixture of the City of Turku Art Collection under the care of the WAM Contemporary Art Museum.

The Mill Bridge Reconstruction

The creation of Tänään was tied directly to an infrastructure crisis in Turku. On March 6, 2010, the original prestressed concrete Myllysilta (Mill Bridge), built in 1975, suffered a foundation failure and visibly slumped by nearly a meter. The bridge was closed, demolished, and replaced by a new steel girder bridge that opened to traffic in the autumn of 2011.

Under Finland's Percent for Art (prosenttiperiaate) policy, one percent of the bridge's construction budget was allocated to integrated civic artwork. Kari-Petteri Kakko was selected to realize sculptures around the crossing, centering on the theme of daydreaming and looking up at the sky amid the rush of urban movement.

The Tähtiin tähyävät Ensemble

Tänään forms one part of a four-piece ensemble titled Tähtiin tähyävät (Those Gazing at the Stars), positioned across the corners of Myllysilta, which links Turku's IV and VII districts. The four works depict different life stages looking skyward: Huomenna (Tomorrow), a crawling infant pointing upward; Tänään (Today), the headphone-wearing teenager; Hetki sitten (A Moment Ago), a middle-aged worker resting with a briefcase; and Eilen (Yesterday), an elderly woman in hair curlers.

Prior to their unveiling on Turku Day in 2013, the sculptures were veiled in brightly colored silk sheets, through which stylized limbs, briefcases, and three-toed feet subtly protruded.

Cartoon Aesthetics and Stylized Anatomy

Unlike traditional monuments along the Aura River that display 19th-century scholars, poets, and national figures on elevated stone plinths, Tänään draws inspiration from comic-strip and cartoon aesthetics. Kakko sculpted the bronze figure with exaggerated physical proportions, including an elongated neck, an oversized head, and non-standard digits instead of standard five-toed feet and five-fingered hands.

Setting Along the Aura River

Integrated directly into the stepped granite riverside promenade on Läntinen Rantakatu, the sculpture sits flush with the pedestrian tiers beneath Myllysilta. Walkers, joggers, and cyclists along the riverbank frequently use the granite steps surrounding the cool, patinated bronze figure for resting and social gatherings. The static detachment of the headphone-clad figure contrasts with the continuous hum of bridge traffic overhead and the natural movement of the Aura River below.