Hanna Husberg & Agata Marzecova

Towards Atmospheric Care is a long-term art-led research project by visual artist Hanna Husberg and researcher in ecology, photography and new media Agata Marzecova that explores air as a naturalcultural and technoecological phenomenon situated in the nexus of media, science and technological mediation. By extending the notion of care to air and the atmosphere, we ask: How can we care for what is inaccessible to direct experience, but still structures our daily lives?

The Saari residency will be used to work on From Aurora to Geospace, one of three case studies developed in the context of Towards Atmospheric Care. By looking at large-scale techno-scientific infrastructures for sensing atmospheric phenomena in the Fennoscandian Arctic, the project inquires into their role in constructing new imaginaries that allow for apprehending and sensing the environment in new ways. Our intention is to produce an audiovisual essay, based on materials collected in the context of our Ars Bioarctica art-science residency at Kilpisjärvi Biological Station 2018-19. Exploring different technoscientific modes of visualising the environment, and in particular the atmosphere, we will use the essayistic format to, combining text and audio-visual materials, engage with the poetics and politics of ‘visibility’ and ‘perceptibility’. ‘Essay’ derives from the French word ‘essayer’, to try or attempt, and is here understood as the vehicle for an open-ended, evaluative search and testing of ideas and formats.

The Saari Residence will also provide a preparatory phase for our long-term collaborative work and nourish the elaboration of new outcomes developed over a longer timespan (2020-2022) with the support of the KONE Foundation.