Video Works – Rita Jokiranta | Kari Soinio

Puristamo exhibition space is filled with exhibitions by two visual artists consisting of video works, both dealing with questions about to water and environment, currents and climate.

Rita Jokirantas immersive, four-channel video installation Elsewhere, So Close has a starting point in the ecological anxiety in the artist’s mind. It is also based on the idea that elsewhere all is different, better, happier – or that disasters always happen elsewhere and do not affect us. The work brings “elsewhere” close, to our everyday. Water, rivers and seas, are crucial in the videos, as also changes in them. They alternate with a flow of images from cities and nature, climate anxiety and moments of hope. The work is projected to very thin, transparent projection scrims. By letting the video images to blend on the walls behind new images are created.

With support from Svenska kulturfonden and Eugène, Elisabeth och Birgit Nygrén’s foundation.
More info: ritajokiranta (at) gmail.com, instagram: ritajokiranta

Kari Soinios exhibition includes three documentary video works which explore the circulation of water and trees in the nature’s cycle. H2O describes the beauty of water and ice, the power of flowing water, its fragility and vulnerability, the fragility of ice. The thin ice is a reminder of the impact of climate change on northern nature, snow and ice. Next to it, the video –20°C follows the freezing of Ounasjoki River.

The two-channel work CO2 shows the almost unbearably slow passage of timber rafts in the Karvio Canal in Varkaus. The logs reflect the power and carrying capacity of water, and the connection of inland waterways to the sea, to the world. The video of logs passing through the canal forces the viewer to stop and reflect on what they are seeing, the role of wood as a carbon storage and raw material. Logs carry the carbon sink with them.

More info: kari (at) karisoinio.com, instagram: karisoinio