HANNA KANTO

Fizzle

12 December 2019 – 12 January 2020

tm•gallery

Helsinki, Finland

The BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab, a research group from the University of Helsinki, uses modelling methods to understand patterns and processes concerning biogeography, geomorphology, climatology, and their interactions. By using modern research equipment and statistical modelling, the researchers observe phenomena which might be invisible for a human eye. For several years, the research laboratory has conducted field studies in the tundra landscape in Kilpisjärvi, between the mountains Saana and Jehkas, northern Finland. As part of the sub-Arctic mountain tundra, characterized by a high abundance of seasonal snow-beds and steep environmental gradients, vegetation is a mosaic of dwarf-shrub heaths and meadows. Winter is long, and snow covers the ground for most of the year.

I have spent time in Kilpisjärvi by joining the research group while on field work, during the summer 2018. I was observing the field work of the group by talking and listening, sketching, and photographing. The time I spent on the field and the phenomena observing material has become the core of my art practice since then. In my art practice, scientific results get visual characters where the documentary and fiction are mixed. The new body of artwork, consisting of a series of painting and sculptures are shown at tm•gallery in December-January 2019-20.