Merisiskot in Anthropocene

30.3.-25.5.2019

Artist group Merisiskot (Seasisters;  Kati Immonen, Mari Krappala, Elina Ruohonen and Tiina Vainio) work with dark ecology in anthropocene. Dark ecology sheds light on our position in biosphere and our belonging to a living species in a less apparent way than we have been used to. The group tries out different ways of reaching the unreachable by collecting and following local voices and movements and by creating new from inorganic surfaces, such as cracks in rock and words of ghosts, and inhuman, like ancient pinewood and dry plants.

Merisiskot have a special interest in the environmental status of the Baltic Sea. In their artistic research, they take the liberty to use the scientific results as their jumping-off point and continue in their own context. This takes them beyond the results achieved by the environmental science by asking questions about something, that we are not yet able to observe, or enables them to find a new start and make it possible to continue further with different methods. Sometimes a work of art can return to the basic questions about the nature, other times it moves towards the future and maybe far beyond our commonly experienced reality. At those times, an artwork presents us with a new possibility, a question or a point of distraction.

Just like scientific research, also artistic study takes responsibility for the environment, its conservation and quoting research conducted on the topic. In their work, Merisiskot respects the fellow human, the inorganic and the nature. They also do practical work for conserving the marine environment, for example by participating in an oil spill clean-up course organised by WWF in spring 2018. In the summer of 2019, the group will commence a co-operative Baltic Sea project in Kaliningrad with local artists and researchers. With this kind of practical work, the groups wants to add activism and communal art aspects into their operations.

photo:  Niina Villanueva