Next Helsinki, backed by Terreform, Finnish nonprofit arts organization Checkpoint Helsinki, the Gulf Labor an offshoot of Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (GULF) along with Occupy Museums announces a counter-competition to the official Guggenheim Helsinki competition, seeking submissions in any media across a wide range of disciplines and approaches. Jury chair Michael Sorkin states that this ethos encompasses “any representational conceit that [entrants] think is transparent to their intentions … inventive reflections on the future of Helsinki on any scale.”

The counter competition, covered in an article in Hyperallergic, represents a joining of forces between urban policy thinkers suspicious of neoliberal cultural development models, groups opposed to the Guggenheim’s Abu Dhabi outpost, and a long-standing local opposition in Helsinki seeking an institution more in line with the domestic art scene.