Nestori Syrjälä examines sculpture during our era of ecological crises

While staying at the residence, visual artist Nestori Syrjälä (b.1983) plans to rethink sculpture in our era of ecological crises. In recent years, his art has addressed the relationship between man and nature and the related problems through sculpture, installations and videos.

“Accelerating environmental crises are also forcing us to rethink the essence and forms of art. At the Saari Residence, I will consider how the techniques of sculpture in the expanded field could be further developed to respond to these changes. Can the sculpture materials, tools and energy used play an equal role alongside the artist’s ideas in creating the meaning of an artwork? How can we use art to process psychological reactions, such as anxiety and sorrow, triggered by our increasing awareness of climate change and mass extinction?” Syrjälä asks.

Syrjälä highlights the current view of the world in which human life is sacrosanct and unique – even the most destructive actions are explained away by saying that they increase the well-being of mankind. By rethinking sculpture, Syrjälä wants to outline a new, environmentally friendly, non-anthropocentric, post-humanistic way of seeing the role of man among other creatures, both organic and inorganic.