Down to Earth
Down to Earth I, II, III
Soil chromatography workshops with Aino Johansson and Sirja Moberg
SOLU space, Bioart Society, Helsinki
Aalto Design Factory/ Aalto University, Espoo
2021 —2022
Down to Earth is a two day hands-on workshop at Bioart Society's SOLU space on the 2nd and 3rd of December. During the worksho participants will go through the process of how to make a chromatography and prepare some with their own soil samples. While working they will enter into conversations and discuss different aspects with the aim to cultivate our understanding of soil. They invite the participants to explore together our relationship to the soils we inhabit -their role in the networks of the manifold ecosystems of planet Earth and the different kinds of agencies within.
Down to earth dives into exploring our planet Earth and the richness and complexity of it's soil through learning a hands-on biochemical method of making a soil chromatography on paper. The technique was developed by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer in the 1950's and it was considered groundbreaking aspictorial method for portraying biological processes. The method was first developed to provide farmers and composters a snapshot of the biological activity and health of soil. The workshop reflects upon how the chromatographies can open up multiple aspects on soil to us and in our (artistic) practices.
The workshop is part of BioFacts - a programme that consists of a series of artistic research work labs. The programme introduces fundamental techniques of working with biological arts and serves as a vehicle to discuss art and science, materials, techniques, safety and policy, biopolitics, ethics as well as artistic examples through hands-on work. BioFacts is supported by the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.
Field_Notes - Traces workshop 2021
A sneak peek into my fieldwork documentation from the Field_Notes - Tracesworkshop which I participated back in September with Bioartsociety.
My intention as an artist was to comprehend these trace fossil rocks I found as some kind of archeologic living objects or organic mementosfrom deep time in/and the surrounding landscape. In a way the trace fossilsare images of life imprinted in soil from hundreds of million years ago.
More info about the workshop:
“Field_Notes is an art&science field laboratory at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Lapland, Finland. Five groups work for one week in the sub-Arctic Lapland to develop, test and evaluate specific interdisciplinary approaches on questions located above the ground.
During a two-week field trip in September 2021, artists and scientists invited by the Bioart Society formed a group of critical enquirers to find out more about tracing trace fossils. Starting from the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station of the University of Helsinki, the group shouldered its backpacks and followed the geological outcrops in search of the fossils. They will practice trace and landscape reading, orientation, trace-making,documentation and decision-making on sites of bifurcationThey may call this a (paleo)ethology of tracing.
The participants: Björn Kröger, Elisa Koski, Sacha Marcet, Erich Berger, Lisa Kalkowski, Leena Valkeapää, Judith Van der Elst, Jaakko Pesonen and Sirja Moberg.
Field_Notes - Traces is organized by Bioart Society in collaboration with Björn Kröger, Finnish Museum of Natural History (Luomus) and part of Arc-hive a European collaboration project committed to the developementof digitization and digital dissemination strategies. Arc-hive is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.”
FRANTSILA PHOTO COMMISSION
Nature connection
Photography
Commissioned by Frantsila Herb Farm
Frantsilan Hyvän Olon Keskus, Hämeenkyrö
2020
A photoshoot for Frantsila Herb Farm.
I was commissioned to make photographs that reflect
my interpretation of connection between nature and peoplein the beautiful surroundings of Frantsila.
Model: actor Roosa Söderholm.
REBORN
Reborn
Light installation
Valo taiteilijan materiaalina Pop-up exhibition
MUU Kaapeli, Helsinki
2021
A demo light installation from a light art workshop Material Light hosted by FLASH and MUU ry at Kaapelitehdas.
Reborn is constructed by re-used materials from my previous works.
What would Poseidon do?
What would Poseidon do?
Installation
On Circulation pop up exhibition
Väre, Aalto Univeristy
2020
The sketch like installation consists of two elements:
drifted sea trash I collected from a shore in Laajasalo in Helsinki
and abstracted prints of maps picturing the state of the Baltic Sea.
At the centre of my altar-like installation lies a caricature of Poseidon,
the ancient god of the sea.
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Undefined presence II
Pigment print
Size varies
2018
Undefined Presence is an on going project
in which a mirror sculpture shaped as a human child reflects
the uncontrollable nature with its broken surface.
The same nature that people try to frame, examine and
understand through cameras. In these photographs or films
the child shaped sculpture reflects Finnish nature:
the tameless nature that we often view through our pre-constructed
aesthetic perceptions. I ponder how could we see the nature
and our connection with it, without our culturally learned
ways? Could we see nature as it is without it being harnessed
for consuming purposes?
For a moment the mind of a small child is free from the shared
western perceptions of the nature. They reflect their living
environment constantly and learn to live and constitute
viewpoints of the reality via this reflection.
Undefined Presence sculpture featured in an animation:
Midsummer
Abigail Giblin, Sayaka Makita, Sirja Moberg
Stop motion animation
0 min 46 sec
2018
Midsummer (Juhannus) is a collaborative stop motion that combines
an element from each of our projects undertaken at Haihatus artists residency. We bonded over midsummer traditions and the landscape of Central Finland Juhannus is the time when people connect with nature and celebrat the brightest day of the year and nature’s fertility.
drifted sea trash I collected from a shore in Laajasalo in Helsinki
and abstracted prints of maps picturing the state of the Baltic Sea.
At the centre of my altar-like installation lies a caricature of Poseidon,
the ancient god of the sea.
2018– (on going)
Photography, video, animation
Photography, video, animation
Undefined presence II
Undefined presence II
Pigment print
Size varies
2018
Undefined Presence is an on going project
in which a mirror sculpture shaped as a human child reflects
the uncontrollable nature with its broken surface.
The same nature that people try to frame, examine and
understand through cameras. In these photographs or films
the child shaped sculpture reflects Finnish nature:
the tameless nature that we often view through our pre-constructed
aesthetic perceptions. I ponder how could we see the nature
and our connection with it, without our culturally learned
ways? Could we see nature as it is without it being harnessed
for consuming purposes?
For a moment the mind of a small child is free from the shared
western perceptions of the nature. They reflect their living
environment constantly and learn to live and constitute
viewpoints of the reality via this reflection.
Undefined Presence sculpture featured in an animation:
Midsummer
Abigail Giblin, Sayaka Makita, Sirja Moberg
Stop motion animation
0 min 46 sec
2018
Midsummer (Juhannus) is a collaborative stop motion that combines
an element from each of our projects undertaken at Haihatus artists residency. We bonded over midsummer traditions and the landscape of Central Finland Juhannus is the time when people connect with nature and celebrat the brightest day of the year and nature’s fertility.
Gesture of Photography
Gesture of Photography
Acrylic plastic, (coloured) light
12 x 20 cm (4 piece)
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
2019
A moment, a portait of men, women and a child performing
themselves in front of a camera about a hundred years ago. In gesture of photography the photographs got de- and reconstructed
and transformedinto a new shape, an uncanny object that looks something like a glass negative. This is the result of working with a scanner and lasercutter and red light. The subtle movement of these plates hanging in the air, red light and the shadows of the figures on the wall refer to the gesture ofmaking a photograph and developing it in the darkroom.
Mother tongue
Mother tongue
Performance
City bus, Downtown Vancouver
2020
Documentation by Azeska Ellis
I rode a poem in Finnish in a downtown bus in Vancouver.
You might interpret it as an attempt to make public performance art.
The poem itself is by a poet, artist and my sister Kirsi-Marja Moberg:
“Ikkuna
tila
kiviseiniä
siltoja
joilla vastaantulija ei koskaan veli
tai sisko
rajoja
kovia
sinuja ja minuja
entä jos näkisi vain
kauneimmat mahdollisuudet
salaisuudet, jotka istuu pienillä oksilla
koputtelevat olkapäihin
hymyilevät, jos näkisit
maailmasi sisällä
maailma ympärillä
muuttuisivat samaksi säteeksi
joka yltäisi kaikkiin sieluihin
rakentaisi sillat, joilla jokainen vastaantulija
rakas sisar”
Vote together
Vote together
Photography
2019
Vote together was a project I took part in a workshop led by
artist Elina Brotherus. The project was encouraging people to vote,
participate and spread awareness of the European elections in 2019.
The photographs of students were shared on social media and
finally presented as prints in a communal space in Väre in Aalto University.
Putukka
Putukka
Video animation, sound
2 min 43 sec, loop
2019
The video animation is inspired by and conveys the concepts of
uncanny, abject and distgust. They are based on texts by Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva, Aurel Kolnai and W. J. T. Mitchell addressing these concepts. I pondered on them through the proximity of an old album photograph of my deceased grandmother and her relatives. The gesture of digital ’iconoclasm’(disfiguring the people in the photograph with Photoshop) of an old dear photograph raised the feelings of uncanniness and disgust. Putukka also
deals with my own memories about my grandmother, her memories and losing them through Alzheimers and through this the idea of Walter Benjamin’s optical subconscious.
Nexus
Nexus
A collaborative sound piece with artist Philips Stanislavskis
Väre gallery space V2 at Aalto University of Arts, Design and Architecture
2018
The exhibition Sonic Sculpture brought together works of students from Sonic Sculpture workshop at Aalto University of Arts, Design and Architecture. The works ranged from experimental instruments to different combinations of materials andforms creating sound. Experimental design and construction led to unique sculptural instruments.
© Sirja Moberg 2024