names and bios

The four day program contains viewpoints and presentations by scientists and artists. The topics evolve around “arctic” as a case study for global issues on climate change; scientific evidence of impacts will be present and various questions and issues discussed. The topics vary from wide perspective to climate change and its impacts in the arctic to more specific topics such as water flea-research and its relation to climate change, and to Samí-people and their everyday impacted by the change.

Antero Järvinen: zoology, arctic nature

Professor, PhD, the Director of the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, Helsinki University. Antero Järvinen is a zoologist specialized in the nature of the arctic fells. He has written over 100 scientific articles, and over 120 articles for wide audience, and published several books on birds and on humans & animals, for example “Ihmiset ja eläimet – humanistin eläinkirja” (2000) –The Humans and Animals- The Animal Book of The Humanist, and editor for “Suurtuntureiden luonto” (2004) –The Nature of The Arctic Fells”.
It has been said about him, that he has gone 30 years without a summer holiday. “With 24 hour bright daylight the research possibilities at Kilpisjärvi are just too tempting to take time off at this time,” he says with a characteristic smile and binoculars around his neck.

Heikki Henttonen: rodentology, epidemiology

Heikki Henttonen: Professor, PhD, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, rodentology, epidemiology

Heikki Henttonen is a Professor of Forest Zoology in the Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA). He is known all over the world as a specialist in rodentology applied to epidemiology.Expertise: forest zoology, population ecology, mammals, rodents, voles, lemmings, rodent-born diseases and parasites, hanta-viruses, rodent damage in forestry, and plant shelters. Research projects, for example, on the impact of climate change on forest damage by mammals: Climate change will affect the distribution and abundance patterns of both large and small mammals. The distribution ranges of deer (roe deer and white- tailed deer) will expand to the north, and abundances of all cervids (moose and deer) will increase, resulting in more damage to forestry unless controlled. Changes in seasonality will affect small rodent dynamics, possibly stabilizing them. This will result in multi- annually stable patterns of damage instead of the present cyclic one. The project aims at predicting future damage by mammals and suggesting ways to reduce and control mammalian damage in the face of a changing climate.
http://www.metla.fi/pp/HkHe/index-en.htm
Expert talk on adaptation of animal populations to changing climate, especially mammals and rodents and impact of climate change on ecosystems and how this is affecting human cultures.

Kari Laine: botanist, polar regions
Kari Laine: Professor, PhD, the Director of the Thule Institute, University of Oulu, botanist, polar regions.

Kari Laine is a specialist in the polar regions and in the interaction between animals and plants in the arctic regions. Laine has published many articles and he has led many research projects about environmental changes, for example climate change, affecting the plants and about the relations between nature and humans. His activities include many expert positions in various sectors, for example, he is a member of the coordination committee for Finnish Antarctic Research 2007-2010. His research interests include: the current state of the polar environment, change in the polar regions, polar-global linkages and teleconnections, exploring new frontiers, the polar regions as vantage points and the human dimension in polar regions.

Kari Laine will be in discussion with our surprise-guest Professor Marc Nuttal from Canada, and with AEC Director Gerfried Stocker from Linz.

Iris Zellmer: water fleas, plant physiology

Ph.D. (Zoology), Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Research Scientist: Plant Physiology at Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany

Research: The effect of temperature on the UV-tolerance and life history parameters of sub-arctic and arctic Daphnia, the effect of sublethal UV-radiation on food algae and subarctic and arctic Daphnia on life history parameters, the UV-tolerance and biochemical parameters. Dr Iris Zellmer has conducted over 10 years field research on water fleas at the Biological Station of the University Helsinki in Kilpisjärvi and the Subarctic Research Institute in Kevo, Finland.

Milla Rautio: freshwater ecology, paleolimnology

Milla Rautio is a professor in the Aquatic Sciences Laboratory in Université du Quebéc à Chicoutimi, Canada. Her main research interest is high-latitude freshwater ecology, especially: distribution of zooplankton in northern lakes and ponds, response of zooplankton to ultraviolet radiation, benthic-pelagic coupling in shallow subarctic and arctic ponds, the use of Cladocera in paleolimnology, winter limnology. Fieldwork: northern Scandinavia (Lapland), subarctic and arctic Canada (northern Quebec, McKenzie Delta, Resolute, Ellesmere Island) and Alaska (Toolik Lake area).
Publications: http://www.cen.ulaval.ca/warwickvincent/people/milla.html

Dr. Rautio did her undergraduate and PhD studies in University of Helsinki in Hydrobiology. After her PhD in 2001 she completed two years of postdoctoral studies in Université Laval, Canada, followed by three years as a research associate and as an ArcticNet science coordinator. She is currently working as an Academy Research Fellow in University of Jyväskylä, Finland but is physically based in Université du Quebéc à Chicoutimi where she has an adjunct professor status.
Expert talk: Paleolimnological aspects in water flees, environmental changes and population changes during last 10 000 years; history of environmental changes.

Martin Kainz: aquatic ecology

Ph.D.- Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada (Environmental Sciences), currently Research Scientist at Interuniversity Center for Aquatic Ecosystem Research, WasserCluster Lunz – Biologische Station, and the Head of ‘Aquatic Lipid and Ecotoxicology Research Group (LIPTOX)’ 2006-present. He has written many articles, and contributed to various publications, as well he has given many invited lectures in various universities worldwide. The research interests include: aquatic ecology, lipid biochemistry, ecotoxicology and chemical tracers. “My research combines ecotoxicology with dietary nutrient processes within the aquatic food web. I am intrigued by the fact that some contaminants, for example the powerful neurotoxin methyl mercury (CH3Hg+; MeHg), bioaccumulate in all aquatic consumers, whereas the retention of dietary nutrients, such as some physiologically required fatty acids, is species dependent. To better understand how potential contaminants and essential dietary constituents are conveyed and eventually specifically managed through the aquatic food web, I examine their pathways from microorganisms to fish, conducting field and laboratory experiments. In an effort to expand aquatic research, I am interested in bridging aquatic and human food webs and, in particular, in identifying those ecosystem parameters that reduce the bioaccumulation of potential contaminants and enhance the retention of essential constituent in aquatic organisms.” http://www.wasserkluster-lunz.ac.at/kainz

Merja Talvela: culture, theatre, water fleas

Merja Talvela is a multi-disciplinary agent in the field of culture, taking theatre and performing arts into unexpected places. Her work also crosses generations: it has ranged from ‘developing young talents into becoming professional artists’ to working with elderly people to bring forth their dormant artistic awareness. A characteristic aspect of her work as a writer and director is that she uses the personal experiences of the cast and the features of location as determining factors in the finished performance. She is currently working for Espoo City leading the award winning Cultural Chain service which brings art and activity to the elderly and promotes dialogue between generations. The service received the Innovation Award in the EUROCITIES 2008 Awards.

Merja Talvela will present Water Flea Circus – a peepshow on ecology, a collaborative work between the artist and the scientist Iris Zellmer.

Leena Valkeapää: art, environmental art, Samí life style

Researcher and artist Leena Valkepää is based in Kilpisjärvi and in Helsinki University of Art and Design. Her interests during the last years have evolved around questions on understanding human being as a part of nature. In her research, she  focuses on the traditional Samí-culture of northern Finland and their way of living ‘in’ and ‘with’ the nature. This long-term artistic  research project is inspired by famous Samí-musician Nils-Aslak Valkepää who was incorporating the Samí-traditions and northern landscape as a inherent part of his artistic production. In a similar manner Leena Valkeapää approaches art that is incorporated into the culture and landscape where it emerges from. Many of her recent productions have been created in collaboration with her husband reindeer-herder Oula A. Valkeapää who is continuing the traditional Samí lifestyle with reindeers in the tundra.
Leena Valkepää is educated in sculpture and environmental art. She has MFA from the University of Art and Design Helsinki 2004. She works with variety of materials, which include nature elements; stones and wild plants, and video, photography and ethnographic materials. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Faculty of Art Education.

Tapio Mäkelä: media art, locative media, transdisciplinary research

Tapio Mäkelä is a researcher and a media artist based in Manchester, UK and Helsinki, Finland. He is currently an AHRC Research Fellow with department of Creative Technology, School of Art and Desigh, University of Salford. He is working on a book about social and cultural uses of location based media and applied project in the same field.Mäkelä is a co-founder with Marko Peljhan, of Marin Association and M.A.R.I.N. (Media Art Research Interdisciplinary Network), an art, science and ecology research residency and network initiative.
Mäkelä was the programme chair of ISEA2004, the 12th International Symposium of Electronic Art. He is working mostly on new media and cultural studies research as well as research driven media arts practice.M.A.R.I.N.**
M.A.R.I.N. is a networked residency and research initiative, integrating artistic and scientific research on ecology of the marine and cultural ecosystems. For the first three years M.A.R.I.N.’s operational focus is a mobile residency program set on a catamaran sail boat, redesigned and equipped to be a sustainable environment for transdisciplinary research in arts, sciences and technology. Emerging from long experience of collaboration within media art, M.A.R.I.N. develops integrative arts/science/technology practice models. The name of the project is an acronym of Media Art Research Interdisciplinary Network. The founders of the project, Tapio Mäkelä (FI/UK) and Marko Peljhan (SL/US/LV) emphasize that M.A.R.I.N. is a collaborative platform that acts as a catalyst between organizations, and forms a social network between individual practitioners. The residency allows for concentrated dialogue and work: it is the depth of the ocean, while networks are horizontal. The project launches at Belfast ISEA2009.

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The bios of the team:

Anu Osva (FI)
Artist, Lic. Sci. (Agriculture and Forestry)
Osva is a Finnish artist with scientific background in animal breeding (i.e. genomics, quantitative genetics and mathematics). She worked ten years as a researcher on this field, but chose the artistic career in 1990. In 1999 she started to combine scientific thinking and observations into her artistic work. In artworks – paintings or objects – genetic layers are mixed with random layers of oil colours, observations on nature, cultural or historical layers, or layers related to our belief systems. Genetic information, dna code, has diverged from its physical appearance and transformed into colour matrices and pearl –like structures. Among Osva’s recent works is the project Yakutian cattle – A Research Expedition to Siberia in 2000’s. She participated a field trip to North-East Siberia together with a socio-cultural research team from Helsinki University. The target was three isolated, small villages, where endangered, genetically unique Yakutian Cattle still lives as a population of 900 animals. In her art project Osva is investigating this cattle as companion species and co-travellers for humans in harsh, arctic environment. She is the co-writer in two articles and author of the artistic epilogue in the book Sakha Ynaga – A Cattle of the Yakuts (eds. (2009) Granberg L., Soini K., Kantanen J., Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, Humaniora. Helsinki. Forthcoming). Osva has had several exhibitions in Finland and she has also displayed her works in international venues in Iceland, Sweden, Croatia and Belgium. http://www.pp.htv.fi/aosva/

Laura Beloff (FI)
Artist, researcher, PhD candidate, Plymouth University, UK.
With acclaimed international reputation as an artist, the Finnish artist Laura Beloff’s works can be described as peculiar wearable objects, programmed structures and participatory, networked installations. In her pieces she combines technology fluently with various mediums ranging from video to textile, from sound to sculptural and organic materials. Many of her works deal with individuals in the global society trying to adapt to highly complex technological world, which is becoming increasingly mobile. Her current interests also include bioarts and related areas.
Beloff is exhibiting widely and giving presentations on her works in various museums, galleries and major media-art events in Europe and worldwide, recently i.e. Arte.Mov-exhibition and symposium in Brazil 2008, and in the Venice Biennale 2007. She has received various grants, residencies and awards; Ars Electronica -Futurelab residency 1999-00/Austria, Fulbright-grant/U.S., Air-residency 2001 /Vienna, 3-year artist grant/Finland, 2002 Vida5.0 honorary mention/Spain, 2000 File-festival the 3rd prize/Brazil, etc.
She is frequently lecturing about her research and practice in universities and at various events/conferences. She is an expert in cultural issues concerning wearable technologies and art springing from it. In 1999 she was a visiting professor at Linz Art University, Austria. 2002-06 she was a professor for media arts at the Art Academy in Oslo, Norway. 2007-11 she was awarded a five-year grant by the Finnish state. Currently she is working towards PhD within Planetary Collegium, University of Plymouth, Faculty of Technology. More information on her works and cv can be found at: http://www.realitydisfunction.org

Erich Berger http://randomseed.org
Erich Berger was born 1969 in Steyr/Austria and works as artist, curator, researcher and educator. He lives in Gijon/Spain. Berger is trained as an engineer for communication engineering and electronics. He has a master degree in philosophy with an interdisciplinary subject combination of mechatronic and philosophy. Since the mid nineties Berger works as an artist. He is interested in information processes and feedback structures which he investigates with installations, situations, performances and various interfaces.
His work is shown internationally in festivals, exhibitions and galleries. Together with the sound artist PURE he founded the audio visual impro duo TERMINALBEACH (2002). He received a Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction together with the Telezone-Group for the project TELEZONE (2000), the Intermedium2 Award, Bawarian Broadcasting Station / ZKM together with the group 92v2.0 for A SOPHISTICATED SOIREE (2002) and a Honorary Mention from VIDA 5.0 Art and Artificial Life international Competition together with Laura Beloff for the installation SPINNE (2002). From 1996-1999 Berger was at the Ars Electronica Center and Ars Electronica Futurelab. 1998 and 1999 he was technical director of the Ars Electronica Festival. From 1999-2002 Berger was working for the Vienna/Austria based it-company Ideal Communications as a researcher and knowledge manager. Since 2003 Berger gives workshops about physical computing, interaction design and related subjects at various universities, labs and educational institutions. 2004 and 2005 he was developing and directing the MAKING SENSE project at the Oslo/Norway based media lab Atelier Nord. MAKING SENSE was a research and education program about physical computing for artists and designers. It included the direction of workshops, the development of a physical computing lab and technical and artistic consulting for artists. 2006 Berger was artistic director and curator for the INTERFACE & SOCIETY project at the Oslo/Norway based media lab Atelier Nord. INTERFACE & SOCIETY investigated artistic practices and strategies which deal with the transformation of our everyday life through electronic interfaces.
2007 and 2008 Berger was working as Chief Curator at LABoral Center for Art and Industrial Creation in Gijon/Spain. He currently works in a research project about fashionable technology financed by the Austrian government.