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<\/a>Jussi Puikkonen<\/p>\nAs well as being widely viewed as a public nuisance, pilluralli is often discussed as a symbol of social exclusion. \u201cIn many small towns, the young kids don’t have anything to do, so they just sit in their cars, and they end up doing nothing \u2013 that\u2019s how it\u2019s viewed,\u201d he says. As a coming-of-age ritual, it\u2019s more or less a cross-class phenomenon. \u201cIt\u2019s not literally everyone who does it, but in smaller towns it\u2019s often the main way young people spend their time,\u201d he explains. But once people start moving away to attend university or find jobs in bigger cities, there is a visible socio-economic divide in terms of who is left behind,\u00a0 still sitting in their cars on the edge of town.<\/p>\n
When he returned to his home country during the Covid lockdown, Puikkonen looked at the phenomenon with fresh eyes. \u201cThis is their passion, and I find it interesting when people are passionate about something,\u201d he says. It represents a very Finnish form of socialising. \u201cGenerally, we are quite reserved, so it fits that mentality quite well. Because you’re sitting in your car, you have that protection, and you can observe from there, and slowly, you can get to know other people who are doing it.\u201d There\u2019s a creative element too, with many of these young people having spent a great deal of time and effort painstakingly modifying their cars: one shot, for example, shows an inner door fitted decked out with five speakers. \u201cIt\u2019s funny, because the cars might be worth \u20ac500, and the sound system they put in might cost \u20ac10,000.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n