Plaza of Unruly Peace

No more: TURMOIL & POWER
but: UNRULINESS & PEACE

Towards peace in an unruly manner. Towards a more beautiful world for all. Unruly peace is letting go of control. Finding inner calm in the midst of the storm. Play that knows no boundaries. Encountering others with curiosity and without control. To learn how to navigate towards unruly peace, we need a compass. Let’s strengthen our inner skills and challenge our own thinking to make the journey to a different future possible.

The Plaza of Unruly Peace features four directions — experience points — that can help discover unruly peace both in our own lives and in the world. The experience points are: Pause, Let Go, Play and Connect.

The Plaza of Unruly Peace is located opposite the Speakers’ Stage in the backyard of Konttori. 

The program is primarily aimed at youth and adults, but children are also welcome.   

PAUSE

Being in the moment is often difficult for us. We are living for the future, already planning the next step or reflecting on the past. We waste the life that is happening here and now because we are living for tomorrow’s goals. Sometimes we need moments of pausing from all the doing and all the going. Pausing helps us to remember what is meaningful and that it can be found surprisingly close by. Sometimes all it takes is to take a breath and you remember to be alive, here and now.  

PROGRAM:
Sat & Sun 12–19 — Audio recordings & self-guided relaxation (fin/eng) / Fingo & Erika Eva

Listen to recordings using your own device via QR code, or with the headphones provided in the tent. Available in English and Finnish. Sit peacefully in the tent while listening or find your own quiet spot elsewhere and listen via the link with your own device. The recordings are voiced by Erika Eva, a future artist and educator who develops methods and exercises to strengthen internal capacities in the midst of meta-crisis.

PLAY
Let’s unleash our unruly creativity! Let’s write poetry, express ourselves and create something completely new. Imagining the future can be play. Play is an invitation to imagine something that has never been seen before. It offers endless possibilities to create. By planning for the future and anticipating risks, we often try to control time and the future. Would it be better to develop the ability to adapt and the capacity to flex? Play and creativity offer us a way to do that.   

PROGRAM:
Sat & Sun 12–16 — Future Poem Workshop (fin) / KSL Study Centre
Sat & Sun 16:30–19 — Hardcore Punk Poetry Workshop (fin) / Eero Heinonen

Future Poem Workshop:
Explore possibilities for civic activism, democracy, and a better world through poetry. Come write your own future poem! There are many possible futures, and we have the power to shape them. The future belongs to us! This workshop aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals and blends future thinking, arts education, and imaginative exploration of civic activism and democratic development — strongly tied to the theme of global peace.

Hardcore Punk Poetry Workshop:
Create short, punchy peace-themed poems to be shouted aloud. Shouting together is powerful for both individuals and communities. Creative writing, self-expression, and bodily expression are especially vital in times like these, as wars rage and affect us both mentally and physically. Hardcore punk poetry supports peace — shouting may not solve everything, but it might give you inner peace, and that’s already something.

LET GO
Let’s explore together whether it is possible to give up control and learn to better tolerate uncertainties. From an early age we learn to control our emotions, to walk the line and force ourselves and others into “normality”. Globally, control has been seen in the violent drawing of straight lines on the maps of continents and telling entire nations where they should live. It is thought that by anticipating ourselves and our environment, we will fare better. But that is not nature’s way. Nature is unruly!   

PROGRAM:
Sat & Sun 12–16 — “Companions in Uncertain Times” cards (fin) / Fingo
Sat & Sun 16:30–19 — Better Feasts at the Edge of the World (fin/eng) / Better Feasts

Companions in Uncertain Times Cards:
Recognize and acknowledge the uncertainties of living in this world. Guided discussions using Fingo’s “Companions of Uncertain Times & Saboteurs” card set. Sit down to share thoughts and feelings about the future. You may not even know who you’re speaking with.

Our world is full of uncertainty and big questions. We don’t always know what’s next — and that can be scary. Use the cards to explore the traits and skills that help you navigate the waves of uncertainty. Embracing uncertainty can make the future easier to approach.

Better Parties at the Cusp of Collapse (Paremmat Pidot):
Here, you’re invited to sit at the cusp of collapse — not to solve everything, but to feel what remains when illusions of control fall away.

In these parties, nothing is overexplained. We sit with fear, hope, gratitude, disbelief — and maybe laughter. You can share a thought. Or be silent. Or simply breathe — together or alone. Here, we are not alone with our questions.

Better Parties are encounters, occasions, and events — in person and online. They are accompanied by the “Pitojen Podcast,” exploring intertwined crises and transformations in culture, society, and the surrounding world. 

CONNECT 

Let’s navigate toward shared peace through compassionate presence. Can we learn to let go of control and instead meet each other genuinely and with curiosity? How often do we meet friends and follow a scripted dialogue? Or try to make others bend to our will? Have you been labeled or cast into roles? What if we met others with curiosity and accepted that we can’t know who the other person truly is — or what might unfold in this moment?

PROGRAM:
Sat 12–16 — Mediation Simulation (fin/eng) / #Sovinto
Sat 16:30–19 — Radical Encounter (fin/eng) / Fingo
Sun 12–19 — Radical Encounter (fin/eng) / Fingo

Mediation Simulation:
Experience how mediation principles can be used to resolve conflicts. Participants will explore the restorative mediation method used internationally in conflict situations. Gain a hands on experience and practical tools for resolving conflicts. Mediation and conflict resolution skills are essential in peace work, both in daily life and crises.

Organizers are part of the #Sovinto project, which promotes restorative thinking and aims to spread conflict resolution and co-existence skills widely in Finland and beyond.

Radical Encounter:
Dare to look someone in the eye for one full hourglass turn? We live in an epidemic of disconnection, making real encounters harder. At the same time, we all deeply long to be seen and met. Looking someone in the eyes today feels almost radical — but could it be one step toward restoring connection between us?