Chasing Daylight with Arttu Heikkinen

Outside the Amos Rex Museum in Helsinki, Finland, a series of five concrete-tiled skylights rise into Lasipalatsi Square, an interactive art installation that lets light into the subterranean museum. The iconic square is a hub for community in the almost 700,000-person municipality, packed with tourists and locals on a long summer day. In the winter, it’s also where the city pushes much of the snow they clear from the streets.

In 2021, Arttu Heikkinen was shooting outside Amos Rex at night for Forrmula with the Forre crew. They were hitting the iconic domes repeatedly, when a museum worker walked up to ask what they were doing. Instead of chastising them for building ramps up art installations, the museum owners were thrilled. “They were actually really happy we were there,” says Heikkinen. “They offered up their event space to host a premiere of the movie later that fall. We’ve gone back to shoot every year since.”

That year was Heikkinen’s first year with the Forre crew, a group of Finnish street skiers including Tuukka Pöri, Harald Hellström, Joona Sipola, Elias Syrjä and Teemu Tirkkonen, who started making films in 2018. Heikkinen got to know the crew from skiing at Talma Ski Area, just outside Helsinki. When Pöri stepped away from filming in 2019 to return to school, Heikkinen, then just 22 years old, picked up where his friend had left off, joining the team as the main filmer. And soon, since the team was so lean, he also became the photographer. 

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