Flagellate: Algae concert

Musical performance bringing together microalgae, horns made from kelp algae, and traditional Finnish and Karelian shepherd’s horn and flute instruments.

Algae don’t know that they impede our swimming, threaten our health or, in death, empty the water of oxygen. They just want to live. They are not messengers, but their ever more frequent disruption of our lives is a message, a message that our systems need to change. Shepherd’s horns were once used to send messages, including warnings: we hope that our instruments can amplify the call of the algae.

18:00: Algae sample collection
As part of the nationwide Baltic Sea Day, algae researcher Sonja Repetti will collect samples from the sea using a plankton net. Swimmers are welcome to participate in the collection of samples if they wish. After sample collection, we’ll head over to Ruutikellari for a concert.

19:00: Flagellate Collective concert, Ruutikellari
During the concert, microscope views of samples collected from the Baltic Sea will be projected onto a screen, magnified up to hundreds of times. Musicians Devina Boughton, Veera Katila and Kirsi Ojala, along with visiting artist Davide Stefani (ITA), will respond to the movements of algae and other plankton – and influence them in turn – by playing traditional Finnish and Karelian horn and pipe instruments, as well as horns made from kelp. The performance will feature a brief introduction to algae and the instruments used.

This is a pay-what-you-want concert (suggested donation: €5–20). The proceeds will be donated to the John Nurminen Foundation to support the harmonious coexistence of people and algae.

Note: capacity limited (max 60)

Flagellate-Collective are an art-science collective formed in 2025, who explore and perform music inspired by the diverse lives of algae and shepherd’s instruments. Includes musicians Devina Boughton, Veera Katila and Kirsi Ojala and algae researcher Sonja Repetti. Concerts in collaboration with algae and other aquatic microbes, and sometimes other humans.

Part of Baltic Sea Day celebrations at Suomenlinna: https://suomenlinna.fi/