Emmi Kaasalainen

As Mäkelänkatu shifts toward becoming a city boulevard, Boulevard Fantasy listens to the landscape in transition. The route moves from the periphery toward the city center, while urban plans envision an expansion outward from the center. Field recordings gathered from Suursuo to Vallila weave together past, present, and imagined futures — soundscapes that reflect our evolving relationship with the built environment.

Rooted in soundscape studies and ecocritical approaches to music, the work invites the listener into a moment of auditory reflection amid the city’s change.

The work was created as a site-specific installation in a tunnel along the route, with four sound sources installed in the space. In this listenable sonic dream, the soundscape of the city unfolds over roughly the same time as the journey itself.

This work examines humanity’s resilience and ability to adapt amid collapse. Using raw, unprocessed sounds and repurposed materials, it reflects on what remains when a familiar way of life ends. What knowledge, skills, and memories can we salvage to rebuild from what is left? At its core, the piece tackles deep existential questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we headed? It explores whether humanity, nature, and culture can reconnect and create sustainable relationships in a transformed world. Through sound and material, the work challenges us to adapt and reimagine life from the past’s remnants.

Sounds of crumbling, rustling, and subtle material sounds created by participants blend with natural and human elements of the environment.