EVELIINA HÄMÄLÄINEN: DELAY

The name of the latest exhibition of Eveliina Hämäläinen is Delay; it expresses the artist’s interest towards temporality.

KIM JOTUNI: ROOTS

The Forum Box Permanto space is dominated by a large upside-down rhizome, animation and a meditative soundscape.

I use a lot of wood in my work. Wood is not only a material for works but also provides a content starting point for works. The whole of the Forum Box exhibition got its inspiration from the communication between the trees. Trees are one of the prerequisites for the ecological chain and for life. Studies also show that they communicate with each other. The messages flow through the rhizomes, mycelium.

Working as a sculptor today involves using a lot of different 3D modeling programs. First, I created the roots of a tree into a 3D model and then the roots of the tree has been milled into shape with a cnc cutter. I think it is interesting how the end result shows traces of the instrument. The trace does not have to be a traditional trace of an ax or a chainsaw. The method and instrument are always part of the aesthetics of the work.

Lately, I’ve been interested in creating holistic entities that combine sculpture, animation, and sound. Many thanks to Sohei Yasui for designing the sounds.

MILLA-KARIINA OJA: STONE UNDER THE MOON

If nature had a mind, how would it work? Could we commune with it? How would it be possible to understand the innermost essence of a natural entity such as a stone or the wind? These questions have driven the odd imaginary world that Milla-Kariina Ojahas constructed in the Stone Under the Moon video installation.

The single-channel spatial video installation is centred on a barren and active island. The island is a living agent that writes its own story. Simultaneously, a human being aims to resonate with th surrounding environment by participating in nature’s atmospheres through instinctive spontaneous gestures.

We could think that nature’s “mind” manifests itself in many ways, for example, through seasons and the weather. These natural conditions intermingle to create momentary states/states of mind. But does this mind become real only through the presence of a being witnessing the experience itself?

The work meditates on the core of human beings’ intimate and profound relationships with nature, and reflects on our seemingly absurd ways of being and acting. Nature sets the boundaries that enable our very existence, but how can we learn to exist simultaneously as part of nature, and in nature?

The work and the exhibition was supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and AVEK—The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture.

Stone Under the Moon (2022)
Single-channel spatial video installation, 4k, approx. 8’30” loop with sound
Performer, filming, and editing by Milla-Kariina Oja
Sound design by Pertti Venetjoki
Visual effects by Marko S. Eronen
Colour definition by Timo Teräväinen