JOSEFINA NELIMARKKA

WHAT WAS THE ARTISTIC JOURNEY YOU WENT ON TO ARRIVE AT THIS POINT?

A few years ago, I started having conversations with climate scientists and this revealed new perspectives to look at the world of atmospheric phenomena, clouds and climate modelling. There are so many unknown interactions in the atmosphere which are important to talk about.

My fascination with aerosols is that they are such a complex matter. Depending on their particular qualities, they influence the cloud’s properties and have far-reaching effects on the climate system by reflecting and absorbing sun radiation. There is also the question of air pollution. In my research exploring atmospheric climate, aerosols have become an ideal way to zoom into it.

It’s very important to my work that there is a specific meaning and connection between the data, the work and the experience. I choose environmental data carefully depending on the context.

IS THERE A GENERAL THEME TO YOUR WORK?

With technology, like with art, we can have a personal relationship to something that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to. I’m interested in looking at the environment not just through what is visible, but also through that which we normally can’t see.

I like to work with the idea of a gradual experience that I hope the audience to perceive. During my exhibitions there’s always an ongoing process or a material change. One of the reasons why I like working with real-time data is because it can really expand the experience of the artwork once people know where the data is coming from. It makes both the work and the experience conscious.

It’s important to me that we think about what to do about the increasing amount of climate data in the world. Everyone should be able to understand it and see its potential. Art needs to react to this.

HOW DO YOU RELATE TO THE TERM ‘ENVIRONMENTAL ART’? WHAT ELSE HAS INSPIRED YOUR THINKING?

Rather than ‘environmental art’, I often use the term ‘climate interaction’ because it’s all about allowing us to communicate better with our climate. However, for me this is about interaction with the environment as opposed to interaction between the audience and the work.

In my work I’ve been inspired by writers such as Roland Barthes and Maurice Blanchot. Both of them talk about ‘radical passivity’ – the absence or the silent space where language starts from.

In order to break your usual patterns of thought and create something new, you need to reinvent that absence. This has been a starting point for many of my processes because when I work with an unknown outcome, or something which is lost in the moment we have it – like the brief moment of an aerosol lifetime – I’m always dealing with a space of possibility.

In terms of the environment and climate change we also need this break from conventions. This is why I chose to have this more philosophical angle to the environment rather than talking about politics directly. My work is more about subtle experiences and poetic imagination because I think this can trigger a space of possibility, whether it’s threatening, hopeful or both.

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