The project was initiated by the former Czech Ambassador to Finland, Adam Vojtěch, in cooperation with the creator of the Poesiomat, Ondřej Kobza. The unveiling ceremony was attended by the author of the project, the Director of Kaapelitehdas Kai Huotari, and representatives of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Helsinki. The event was also covered by the Finnish television channel MTV3, which broadcast a report from the site in its evening news program.

The Poesiomat found its place at Kaapelitehdas, which at the time of its construction in 1954 was the largest building in Finland. It originally served for the production of submarine cables and later also housed Finland’s first supercomputer. Since the late 1980s, however, it has become a center of culture and creativity, today home to hundreds of artists and cultural institutions.

The Poesiomat, whose shape resembles a periscope, is a “talking sculpture” and a sound installation that connects poetry with a specific place. By turning a crank, visitors generate their own electricity and can then choose from twenty audio tracks, such as poems or sounds associated with the given location. While dozens of Poesiomats can now be found across the Czech Republic, the project is gradually expanding abroad as well—from Buffalo and New York in the United States through Paris, Berlin, and Larvik to Manila in the Philippines.

Each piece is unique, just like the place where it stands. The Poesiomat strengthens the genius loci and helps people perceive space in a new way. In Helsinki, visitors can thus hear the sounds of the aforementioned supercomputer, as well as, for example, the words of Finland’s first Olympic champion and one of the directors of the Suomen Kaapelitehdas company, Verner Weckman, under whose supervision the construction of the current complex began.