Navigating Turbulence ~ Towards the Making of Place

Helsinki Biennial Art Mediation Forum
12.06-17.09.23 / Vallisaari Island, Helsinki (FI)

Voices of the Baltic Sea: Science, Art and Action
02.09.25 / Hanasaari Cultural Centre, Helsinki (FI)

Curated and produced by Findji+Gras.

The sound piece is intended for the ferry to Vallisaari and lasts for about the length of the trip. For the full experience, we recommend to start listening with your own device as soon as you get on board and enjoy the scenery. Listen to the sound piece here.

We warmly thank Associate Professor Arttu Polojärvi (interview) and Doctoral Researcher Marek Muchow (interview) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Aalto University, Doctoral Researcher Tim Hammer from TU Delft (poetry), Antoine Flahaut (sound editor) and Essi Pellikka (voice) for their openness and contributions.

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The site-specific sound piece Navigating Turbulence came with the intention of expanding the visitor’s experience of the Helsinki Biennial, located on the island of Vallisaari.

The Helsinki Biennial Art Mediation Forum 2023 is a collaboration between ViCCA (Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art) at Aalto University’s School of ARTS and the Helsinki Biennial 2023. The project focuses on mediation as an ‘articulation space’ for the biennial’s themes and artistic contributions.
Helsinki Biennial 2023: New Directions May Emerge adopts its title from a quote by anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, who proposes learning from (the art of) “noticing”. It is curated by Joasia Krysa, with other curatorial intelligences — Museum of Impossible Forms, TBA21–Academy, Critical Environmental Data, ViCCA@Aalto Arts, and an AI entity.

Voices of the Baltic Sea: Science, Art and Action

Conference: Scientists, artists, and policymakers join forces to turn the challenges of the Baltic Sea into drivers of action.

Anchored in the Baltic Sea’s late-winter, Navigating Turbulence brings artistic and scientific perspectives into dialogue around sea ice research, combining field encounters with experiments at the Aalto Ice and Wave Tank. Navigating Turbulence is an ongoing series of projects developed by Findji+Gras.

The first chapter entitled Towards the Making of Place is composed of a site-specific sound piece with the intention of expanding the visitor’s experience of the ferry trip to the Helsinki Biennial 23, located on the island of Vallisaari. It also encompasses a published essay and a performance with ice scientist Marek Muchow, developped for the Voices of the Baltic Sea Conference by the Institut Français de Finlande and Goethe Institut.

The project focuses on ocean ecology, exploring natural and human-made ice formations through the sounds their presence produces. It delves into research, stories and activities related to these local waters. Along with field recordings, poetry and dialogues with researchers at the Aalto University’s Ice and Wave tank, a number of complex insights into the sea are revealed, including scales, materialities, agencies and interdependent layers of knowledge. The sounds emanating from different seasons and real-time experience embrace the listener through a physically embodied experience. The sound piece is received in a feeling of positive confusion, where the line between simulation and reality fades. Through sound, new places and times can emerge, exist and coexist.