Outsider Art Festival offers fantastic range of Finnish rap music in Espoo
Espoo Cultural Centre presents good boys, Cepan Maailma, MC KOO and spoken word artist Vapaa Sana on Thursday 21 August 2025. In connection with the festival, Tapiola will also host an art exhibition, short film performances in collaboration with Espoo Ciné, and a panel discussion.
Outsider Art Festival (OAF) gives outsider artists an opportunity to showcase a captivating selection of music, visual arts, performing arts, films, literature and life stories in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area from 14 to 24 August 2025. Outsider Art Festival takes place in Espoo for the second time.
The OAF presents art that is made in the margins of society. The festival gives artists a voice, so they can define what outsider art is or what it isn’t. The 2025 programme offers original, distinctive and bold festival experiences and discusses the theme of exclusion in a multidisciplinary manner.
Energetic gig by Cepan Maailma
One of the most expected performers in Espoo is the rapper and writer Mika Leminen, who performs by the name of MC Cepa. Cepa is the leader of the Cepan Maailma rap band and mainly writes the lyrics for the band’s songs.
“I started writings songs around 2010. I started rapping seriously in 2019, and in 2022 I established the Cepan Maailma band. My speech impediment is obviously a challenge for me as a rapper, that’s why I perform with a band, to ensure the audience can understand the lyrics. It's been great to develop in what I do. The peak of my career was last year’s Parafest, where we performed for a full audience with Paleface. Audience showed up despite the rain”, Cepa tells us about their career.
Cepa draws inspiration from role models.
“I have several role models. At the moment, I like listening to lyrical rap music such as Juice WRLD, Polo G and The Kid Laroy”, Cepa explains enthusiastically.
The Cepan Maailma concert will be held on Thursday 21 August at 6.30 p.m. in Louhisali, Espoo Cultural Centre.
“The Cepan Maailma gigs are always super lively. I recommend showing up if you would like to see a proper show. Last year we focused on publications, so we’re playing a lot of new songs. We will perform as the Cepan Maailma band at the Espoo Cultural Centre, and the other performers will be a warm-up band from Tampere called Limppu and DJ Arwi”, Cepa explains.
This is not Cepa’s first time performing at the Outsider Art Festival. In addition, Cepa is working on their first essay collection as part of the Outsider Art Festival’s OAF Academy art programme, which opens up employment opportunities for artists working in the margins of society.
“The OAF gives marginal art and its authors opportunities to shine. For a long time, avant garde and underground have existed as important parts and renewers of the arts field”, Cepa continues.
During the evening, rapper Mc Koo will also appear on Louhisali stage. Mc Koo’s music videos have been viewed on YouTube nearly 800 thousand times! In addition, the programme includes Spoken word-influenced literary artist Vapaa Sana, who will perform poetry, and the good boys who published the Hittaa album at the beginning of the year.
The rat figure of the RAT CITY performance presented by LIPGLOSSBOY(external link, opens in a new window) mingles among the audience during the evening.
Outsider Art Festival spreads to Tapiola
The Outsider Art Festival’s versatile programme will also be available on other days in Espoo.
You can admire the works of Maima Tani at the Espoo Cultural Centre on 20–27 August. Maima Tani’s crocheted works celebrate marine life. The opening of the exhibition will take place on Wednesday 20 August, and the exhibition will also be on display from Friday 15 August at the Espoo metro stations (Tapiola, Espoonlahti, Kivenlahti).
Further information about the exhibition.(external link, opens in a new window)
On Tuesday 19 August, the festival will feature a short film show in Kino Tapiola as part of the Espoo Ciné programme. OAF’s short film show this year offers a wide range of films: animation, performance art and also black-and-white comedy. The exhibition is opened by the beautiful animation of Kenyan-born Doreen Mwirigi, combining clay and paintings, and the coming-of-age story Paula's House (2024), which represents a rare genre of queer Kenyan film. The short film show will also take place at the Espoo Cultural Centre on Sunday 24 August.
In addition to the short film show, the performances and recent short films of legendary outsider artist Kalevi Helvetti and artist duo Satu & Maima Tan will also be presented at the exhibition on Tuesday 19 August.
Further information about the film screenings.(external link, opens in a new window)
On Saturday 23 August, the festival will present OAF X WeeGee Reads: The “Suuri valhe vammaisuudesta” (The big lie about disability) panel discussion will take place at Exhibition Centre WeeGee. The panel discussion will consist of poet Satu Kankaanpää and the authors of Finlandia Award-winning book on disability, Suuri valhe vammaisuudesta, Riikka Leinonen and Sofia Tawast. The poet and Espoo resident Sanni Purhonen will act as moderator for the panel discussion.
Further information about the panel discussion.(external link, opens in a new window)
Outsider Art Festival employs in many different ways
It is also possible to find employment through Outsider Art Festival other than as a performing artist. For example, the basis of the True Equality employment programme has been that everyone has been able to participate equally in the rebuilding of the cultural and restaurant sector. The 2024 festival employed a total of 85 artists and 59 employees through the True Equality employment programme.
Read more about Outsider Art Festival on the festival website.(external link, opens in a new window)
OAF is a partner festival of Helsinki Festival.