80+1 Kilpisjärvi project

18 Jun — 31 Jul 2009

Kilpisjärvi, Finland / Linz, Austria

During spring 2009 Ars Bioarctica took part in the international project 80+1 - A Journey Around the World organized by the Ars Electronica Centre in Linz, Austria. The venture posed 20 crucial questions about our collective future visiting 20 emblematic locations in different parts of the globe. 80 + 1 Kilpisjärvi represented one of the most current issues, climate change. The programme inter-weaved artistic and scientific contributions, consisting of a four day conference held via teleconference between Linz and Kilpisjärvi, during which artists and researchers presented a variety of issues about climate change in the Arctic and globally. This included presentations of the art projects “Midnight Sun” (Beloff, Berger, Osva) – a live video stream of the Subarctic midnight sun from Kilpisjärvi onto the facade of the Ars Electronica building in Linz, and “Water Flea Circus” (Talvela, Zelmer, Osva) – a performative event that focused on water-flea research, and its significance to our environment. As well there was a video-screening of artistic approaches related to climate change by Finnish artists.