What Art Can Teach Us About Interconnectedness

former military installation located on an island near the Finnish capital of Helsinki has been converted into a mass exhibit melding art and culture. Featuring 41 artists from around the world, the Helsinki Biennial presents a diverse collection of pieces, including performances, visual and audio works, sculptures, and interactive displays, located on a marked trail both outdoors and inside historical buildings, gunpowder cellars, and empty residential buildings. 

“What makes this exciting and unique is that most of the works in the event are new, site-specific commissions,” says Maija Tanninen-Mattila, Director of the Helsinki Biennial. “So they’ve not been seen anywhere else, and they won’t be seen in the same form ever again.”

Utilizing the natural landscape, much of the art is centered around humankind’s impact on the earth and connection to the environment, and has been designed around environmentally sustainable practices. 

“Helsinki Biennial’s message of environmental consciousness, sustainable practice and global interconnectedness reflect the city of Helsinki’s own values and ambitions,” says Helsinki Mayor Jan Vapaavuori, who last spoke with Diplomatic Courier in 2019. “This world-class new initiative further enhances Helsinki’s position as a leading creative hub, adding tremendous value not just for its own residents but also for its position on the international stage.”

Pirkko Sitari and Taru Tappola, the curators of the Helsinki Biennial, have named this year's display “The Same Sea,” representing the interconnectedness of the world and mutual dependency among its inhabitants. The name touches on the idea that every person will be affected by the current ecological crisis, despite the inevitable differences in their experiences and suffering. “It is a metaphor for interconnectedness reflecting the conditions and situation we find ourselves and our planet in. We are together and dependent on one another but also bound by our individual situations and circumstances,” explains Tappola.

The idea to turn the island of Vallisaari into an art installation was introduced by the city as a bridge between the capital city and its maritime areas, providing individuals with a way to both be physically active and engage with the natural world at their doorstep. 

Valisaari is one of 300 islands in the city of Helsinki and was formerly used by the Finnish Defense Forces. Its military background gives the island an element of human influence that contrasts with its untamed wildlife, allowing for a meaningful location to create and display artwork that touches on the interplay between humankind and nature. The pieces are exhibited in both indoor and outdoor settings. The artists used the island’s existing structures as backdrops and incorporated them into the artwork. Examples include a cellar vault that was converted into a giant digestive system, created by artist Dafna Maimon, where visitors are invited to walk through a bright red canal built to look like an internal organ. The natural habitat of the island is also integrated into the artwork, with a third of the artwork displayed outside. 

“Now, when all the works have been finally installed and ready, we can see even more connections and meanings between them than we ever imagined,” says Pirkko Siitari. “The artworks really become part of the island, and the island becomes part of the artwork.”

Many of the artists came directly to the island to create their pieces, using their surroundings as starting points for their art. “This site has been really fantastic from the beginning and I think that my piece has actually kind of molded and changed according to the time I spent in the site, so it almost feels like the site is a collaborator in this sense,” says contributing artist Tuomas A. Laitinen whose installation touches on responses and changes in ecosystems. Bird Listener, a participatory exhibition created by artist Kyungwoo Chun, invites visitors to listen to the calls of the island’s birds and then draw the silhouette of what they imagine the birds to look like. The interactive activity is intended to help visitors connect more deeply to themselves and the wildlife of the island. 

Unity is a key theme of the Helsinki Biennial, the exhibition purposefully including artists not just from Finland, but from all over the globe. The Crocheted Coral Reef, a piece created by Australian sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim, embodies the collaborative spirit of the city by inviting over 3,000 Helsinki residents to participate in its creation, while also addressing the importance of marine life preservation. The Biennial also touches on topics such as empathy, culture, change, time, and identity.

The island exhibition is open for visitors from June 12th to September 26th, after pushing the project back a year due to COVID-19. Admission is free to the public and visitors can access the island by taking a fifteen minute ferry ride from the mainland of Helsinki. For those unable to travel to Finland, interviews with the artists, 360 degree views of the art, live guided tours, and virtual reality experiences of the island are available on the website. 

The reopening of the Helsinki Biennial following the COVID-19 pandemic gives the installation even further significance, now representing the resilience of a city and its people after a year of unprecedented challenges.

“The biennial is a proof not only of Helsinki’s strength as an art and cultural city, but also of its determination and ambition, which guided the event’s organisation under extraordinary circumstances,” says Vapaavuori. “It is essential for Helsinki not to stop after the COVID-19 crisis; we want to support the field of culture and art, its operators, and its ability to revive after the crisis. This is important not only for Helsinki, but also for its residents. The Biennial will open to the public at a moment when art is more important than ever.”