Featured image from: Sara Pathirane: Seahorses (2021)

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Annette Arlander: Day with Old Tjikko 1 (2019, 17:45)

The video depicts a day with Old Tjikko, one of the oldest trees in the world. On 14 May 2019, the artist visited Old Tjikko, with Camilla Bäckstrand, and spent the day by the 9950 year old spruce tree growing on Fulufjället in Dalarna in Sweden. The artist recorded a moment with the tree every hour between 10.30 and 19.30, and edited the material into the video Day with Old Tjikko 1, where she simply stands next to the tree.

Annette Arlander: Day with a Juniper 1-2 (2019, 21:56)

The two-channel video depicts a day spent with a juniper. On 3 August 2019, the artist spent a day with a juniper on Utö, Finland, performing for camera every hour between 7 am and 9 pm, sitting next to the shrub and lying down with her feet up next to it, writing some notes after each session. The material is edited into a two-channel installation (21 min 56 sec.), on the left Day with a Juniper 1 with the feet and on the right Day with a Juniper 2 (with text), with the artist’s back, including the spoken and recorded notes as a voice-over.

Annette Arlander: Dear Birch (2020, 05:50)

This letter to a birch was performed with a birch in Mustarinda on 29 September 2020. The artist read the letter written to the birch in Swedish, recorded it as a voice-over to the video, translated it and added English subtitles.

Annette Arlander: Dear Spruce (2020, 05:47)

This letter to a spruce was performed with a spruce in Mustarinda in northeastern Finland on 25 September 2020. The artist read the letter written to the spruce in Finnish, recorded it as a voice-over to the video, translated it and added English subtitles.

Annette Arlander: Dear Deceased (with text) (2020, 06:26)

The artist is writing a letter to a dead spruce sitting on its trunk 29 September 2020 in the forest near Mustarinda house in Paljakkavaara in North-Eastern Finland. The read and recorded letter is added as a voiceover to the beginning of the video depicting its writing.

Eeva-Mari Haikala: Cuberdon (2022, 00:29)

Cuberdon is a traditional Belgian sweet. It is also known with the name neuzeke, small nose. In this video performance, a woman tries to put neuzeke on her nose.

Eeva-Mari Haikala: Konijntje (2022, 01:35)

In this video performance, a woman hides under tree roots.

Eeva-Mari Haikala: Red Devil (2022, 00:53)

In this video performance, a woman attempts to defend a football goal.

Leena Kela: There Is No Planet B (2020, 04:25)

There Is No Planet B is a video performance by performance artist Leena Kela. “Find a site which is either permanently or remarkably destroyed by human beings and make a flagging ceremony with an emergency blanket to commemorate the biodiversity loss in the area.” The sites for the flagging ceremony are for example clearcutting site, a quarry and a peat bog. The performance is a performative ritual for an aspiration for change in the times of global environmental emergency.

Bita Razavi: How to Do Things With Words (A Legal Performance) (2011, 05:07)

The video shows the artist getting married in her studio in Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. The studio is built to resemble the official marriage room of the registration office in Helsinki where people have half an hour time to get married with presence of two witnesses. The video deals with the theatrical aspect of a wedding ceremony by using different elements like lighting, movement of the camera and the expressions of the performers – who are playing a familiar act but in an unfamiliar situation. This focus on theatricality and the switch between documentary and fictitious style of the video raises the question of the validity of the marriage and the motivation behind it.

Sara Pathirane: Hemera – Awakening of Spring (2021, 07:05)

Hemera – Awakening of Spring depicts a dance of a lady bug on the last day of spring just before summer breaks out. The wind blows still cold and wild waking up the lady bug and calling her for learning to fly. Through hardships and metamorphosis, the lady bug finds a new celestial body and grows herself wings that lighten her up ready for take off. Hemera – Awakening of Spring is a non-linear choreography for camera where new choreographical layers are built in the post-production of the video. The music for the video was composed before the filming, thus the music was guiding the choreography both during the shooting and editing processes. The shooting location is an old preserved military area now taken ower by vegetation on the coast of Helsinki. The video belongs to new wave contemporary dance video series “Under the Stars”, a collaboration between choreographer Laura – The Light of All and visual artist Sara Pathirane.

Sara Pathirane: Parasols (2021, 14:37)

Dance video work Parasols is a dreamlike flit in a meadow lined with large plague root leaves. The work is like a moving postcard from colonial times in East Asia. The music of the dance video leads to soundscape reminds of sounds in between plants and soundscape of dewdrops.

Sara Pathirane: Seahorses (2021, 04:23)

Seahorses depicts a dance of seahorses being born in ancient times in mythological land resembling to imaginary Lemuria. Later, far-away in the future, the seahorses wake up from their fossil bodies and through methamorphosis they achieve Rambo-like powers on a sandy beach. Seahorses is a non-linear choreography for camera where new choreographical layers are built in the post-production of the video. The music for the video was composed before the filming, thus the music was guiding the choreography both on the shooting and editing processes. The shooting location is a huge boulder rock in Koivusaari district in the coast of Helsinki. The video was shot on a day when the city of Helsinki decided on the landfill of the area. Seahorses belongs to new wave contemporary dance video series “Under the Stars”, a collaboration between choreographer Laura – The Light of All and visual artist Sara Pathirane.

Ilkka Pitkänen: Inurement (2021, 17:45)

Karaisu (Inurement) is a performative video work about the so called dreamtime and man’s alienated relationship with nature. The ritualistic music created by composer Ilari Edelmann and musician Olli Kari resonates with the soundscape of the environment and complements the work’s dreamlike visual language.

AV-arkki is a non-profit artists’ association. It was founded in 1989 and now has over 300 Finnish or Finland-based artists as its members. AV-arkki’s main purpose is to distribute Finnish media art to festivals, events, museums and galleries within Finland and internationally.