Ars Bioarctica

Since we let too much time pass since our last post and our residency has long been over, we have decided to make this our las post here. You can read more about the project in spanish in this blog. The last time we posted about the project we were ready to hike to Saana but the weather didn't look right. As we had feared, the summer solstice was a rainy day and our first attempt to go out in the early morning didn't go very well. We ended up returning hoping that in the night the rain would stop. We had been warned about this, weather is not to be trusted in Kilìsjärvi. At night, determined to get at least some of the solstice light, we climbed to the place we had selected at Saana to charge the batteries. It was cloudy and VERY cold. The wind was strong and carried small drops of water. We took some pictures and tried to get some charge in our batteries, then we had to go back to the house.

See the flickr set for the solstice. We used the remaining days in Kilpisjärvi to finish the charge, but due to some strange behavior in the measuring tool or maybe the charging circuit, we remained unable to know exactly how much charge we got, all we know is that it's there and that with fully charged batteries the lifetime of each sculpture should be about 24 hours (tough they will only be ON for a few seconds every time they get activated). At the same time, we finished the code for the micro-controllers (code can be found here) and ran a few tests of the light behavior. It was very interesting to interact with the climate database for the code while we worried about climate in realtime to charge the batteries. In a sense, we wanted to translate the numbers in the database into a subjective experience for our audience, and we where living for some days in that area between the numbers we worked with and the elements in the world they represent. We even made a visit to the climate station, saw the measuring machines and had a chat with the man who fills into the database the readings of the machines. He was very nice.

See the flickr set for solaris work. We also met Anu Osva, who arrived to the residency a couple of days before we left. We got to talk with her about her work and about the Finninsh Bioart Society. Leena came to visit too before we left and told us about her research and her life with the reindeers and nature, she showed us a beautiful video. We felt very lucky to have been with them. We managed to make time to hike at Malla, to go to the top of Saana and to hitchhike to Skibotn while we finnished the project. It is no wonder that in the end the lack of sleep was making us feel a  bit sick. As we were packing up for our departure the last pair of batteries finished charging. It was only in Helsinki that we had enough darkness and time to take the some pictures of the finished sculptures. All in all, the experience we had working in the residency was extraordinary. We had almost perfect weather, except for some days. The house and the landscape were ideal for our project and we got to know very interesting people during the travel and at Kilpisjärvi. Having so much time and space to devote to a project is not very common for us, and the quality of the space and time in Kilpisjärvi, with the midnight sun, is unique. We also had the support of Leena, Erich Berger and Anu Osva, which we can not thank them enough for. See the flickr set for the finished sculptures here.