Hietajärvi 2020:0057

Artistic statement:

Area Hietajärvi 2020:0057 as inspirational premise

Hietajärvi 2020:0057 was ca. 290 km2 area of reservation to mine nickel, cobolt and copper. Located in Eastern Finland the area involves Liperi, Heinävesi and Savonlinna communes and is in the immediate proximity of Kolovesi national park and Ilmari Räsänen founds Mattila reserve. There are lakes, forest, ponds, settlement and to give example, Pieni-Vihtari Kalmosaari that is listed as a fixed areal relic at Finnish National board of Antiquities.

Meri Hietala and Tuulia Kasonen are used to see and deal with world through art. Reserved area is a threat to everything that seems important. Nature, aesthetical values, invisible spirit and belief systems, continuity and avoidance of yet to be foreseen consequences are connected to Hietala`s and Kasonen`s earlier artistic work of ageing and ancestors. Hietajärvi 2020:0057 turns into a rhizomatic art project that combines and tries to understand.

Isn't the area already reserved for nature? What is nature? Aren't the mineral deposits already reserved for the function of the planets veins? Is a communication device more important than moss? MeTässä is a reservation that was made before FinnCobalt. Can humans function without mines and where can mines be located? 

MeTässä -project is philosophically connected to Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari and their concept of Rhizome. MeTässä dives into the meaning of Hietajärvi 2020:0057 from the middle, making the irrationality of associations irrelevant. Everything can be connected to everything. Kallionväki (spirits of the rocks) and the ownership of mines is connected to aboriginal Australian Dreamtime. Jewellery art is connected to performance and the sociology of art is connected to chanterelle soup.

MeTässä is a rhizome that is made by mapping, running (so that the dots are lines), drawing, photography, videos, interviews, listening, reading, dancing, playing, dreaming and being. The determination is artwork and understanding.