Of all the travel advice I’ve been given, the best thing I’ve been told is to be strategic about layovers. For years and years I avoided them (I mean, airlines give you that “direct flights only” box for a reason right?); however, being open to layovers and extending them to allow enough time to actually experience a new city is brilliant. In fact, that’s how I ended up in Helsinki. If you fly with Finnish Air, they give you the option to extend your layover for up to 5 days. The best part is – it’s totally free.

1. School of Disobedience by Jani Leinonen – on display at Kiasma. In this exhibition, Leinonen challenges us to question the social constructs and biases surrounding issues of poverty, race, religion, etc. that are present in our everyday lives. He is clever in his approach – he uses images similar to the logos of fast food corporations and luxury brands to emphasize how extreme we have become in our overconsumption of things that aren’t necessarily healthy for us and our dependency on material objects.
2.  Henri Cartier-Bresson – on display at Ateneum. Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) is considered the father of photo-reportage. The collection features just under 300 photographs from his travels and they are sorted into the following categories: America, Bali, China and Japan, Europe, India, Mexico, USSR, and Portraits. Included in his collection from India are photographs of Gandhi taken just a few hours before his death.
3.  Demonstrating Minds by Kiasma – on display at Kiasma. Kiasma explores the dynamic between art and society by showcasing 19 contemporary artists from around the world. These artists draw attention to forms of economic injustice (labour, distribution of power, etc.) and the aftermath of those injustices – riots, protests, and demonstrations.