Äkkisyvä was an artistic collaboration between Clément Beraud and Minna Nurmi.
Äkkisyvä was an artistic residency, founded in 2017, that was organized in Suomenniemi (Finland). The residency welcomed artists widely from different disciplines of art.
The purpose of the residency was to create a collective platform for artistic work for French and Finnish artists and encourages encounters and border crossings between art forms, cultures and nature / human.
The artists selected to the residency worked and stayed in primitive cabins in the middle of the forest, without electricity or running water.
The goal for the artists was to examine their personal perception of nature, find the link to the land, to the place and to the memory of the place.
The residency is organized in Eastern Finland, in the village of Suomenniemi (50 km from Mikkeli). The artists are working and staying in primitive summer cottages (Mökki) surrounded by forest.
The Mökkis were constructed in the 60´s. The builder, Samuli Väärä (Minna’s grandfather) made them for his four children. He was also dreaming of a small island near by the cabins. He made this dream come true by transporting soil and creating an island in the water. He also planted trees on this island.
In the 2017 residency we officially renamed the island Samulisaari (Samuli island).
As a symbol of human hand/foot print, he made a knot on a little seedling of a pine tree. Now this tree has grown old and tall. Our logo depicts this story as we think human and nature should be thought as one.
There is no running water or electricity in the cabins. The water is brought by the crew in water tanks. Water for washing will be pumped from the lake and can be heated in the sauna. The lake water is drinkable after boiling (we use it for coffee etc.). The cabins are 7km away from the nearest village with grocery shop and pharmacy. There is no separate studio/ateljé- building for working. Internet can be really low in most of forests parts.
(FI)
Olemme asuneet metsän keskellä sähköttömissä mökeissä 10 päivää. Meitä on yhdeksän, kuusi ranskalaista ja kolme suomalaista. Kylmyys, kosteus ja harmaus on käärinyt meidät vaippaansa, järvi on peilannut meitä ja sitä mitä haluamme täällä tehdä. Revontulet ovat näyttäytyneet meille elokuun mustina öinä, hyttyset ovat syöneet otsaltamme. Lähimpään kauppaan on kahdeksan kilometriä ja sinne pääsee metsän läpi vain polkupyörällä.
Elämästä tulee yksinkertaisen kaunista, metsästä suojaava piilo. Auringon hetkellinen näyttäytyminen on saanut meidät iloitsemaan, pimeät yöt kertomaan tarinoita. Max tallentaa järven pintaa, Pierren valokuvien metsään karanneet aaveet ikään kuin häivähtävät myös hänen polaroid-kuviensa pinnassa. Sanna piirtää muistoa tuhotusta metsästä. Pimeydestä nousevat muodot Philippen valokuvissa etsivät paikkaansa inhimillisen ja ei-inhimillisen rajalla. Lorenzön vanhentuneen valokuvapaperin pinnalle tallentuvat ihmiset ja heidä emotionaalisesti latautuneet esineensä muistuttavat siitä, mitä jätämme jälkeemme. Rémin fossiili-veistos käy läpi jatkuvaa metamorfoosia. Raimo rakentaa pyhää paikkaa. Aika kerrostuu videolle Minnan ja Clémentin linssien lävitse. Kun pimeä laskeutuu, työskentelyn on loputtava.
Halusimme järjestää tämän residenssin, sillä meitä kiinnosti miten kahdesta eri kulttuurista ja eri taustoista tulevat taiteilijat muodostavat suhteensa “luontoon” ja mitä antroposeenin käsite heille tarkoittaa. Jokainen teos peilaa hyvin yksilöllistä suhdetta luontoon ja paikkaan, jonka olimme ”luonnon” kuvaksi ja residenssin toteuttamispaikaksi valinneet.
Miltei umpeen kasvanut metsä kahden mökin välillä muuttuu poluksi, jolla jälkemme näkyvät ainakin hetken.
Minna Nurmi
(EN)
We are in the middle of the forest and have been living in the primitive cabins without electricity for 10 days. We are nine, six French and three Finnish. Coldness, humidity and grayness have embraced us. The lake have been a mirror for us and for our goals for being here. We have seen Northern lights in the dark nights of August while mosquitos have eaten our foreheads. The nearest food shop is eight kilometres from here and the only way to get there is biking through the forest.
Life becomes simple and beautiful, forest as a shelter. Random glimpses of sun makes us happy, dark nights make us to tell stories. Max is documenting the surface of the lake. The ghosts of Pierre´s photographs are appearing also on the surface of Max´s polaroids. Sanna is drawing a memory of a forest that was destroyed. The forms of Philippe´s photos are searching their place between human and non-human. The models of Lorenzö and their emotionally charged objects are captured on the expired photographic paper, remind of what will we leave behind us. The fossil sculpture of Rémi is in a constant metamorfosis. Raimo is building a sacred place. Time transforms into visual layers through the lens of Minna and Clément. When the sun sets, we have to stop working.
We wanted to organize this residency, because we were interested in seeing how artists from two different cultures and backgrounds form their relation to “nature” and how they position themselves to the concept of Anthropocene. Each piece reflects a very personal relation to the nature and to the place of the residency, that we had chosen as an image of “nature”.
The forest between two cabins turns to a path with our footsteps.
Minna Nurmi
The results of the residency were presented in this exhibition. 8 works for 9 artists from France and Finland.
The exhibition took place in Maa-Tila Gallery - Helsinki
The exhibition from 14th of September to 21th of September 2017.
Artists of the 2017 Äkkisyvä residency were :
Sanna Turunen (Finland) : Luonnon idea (Idea of nature) - illustration
Maxime Chanet (France) : 9 Days - Photography
Philippe Billemont (France) : Arbres (trees) - Photography
Lorenzö (Finland) : A part of me - Photography
Rémi levézier (France) : A piece of fossil n°0 - Sculpture
Pierre Mahieu (France) : Ghost story A piece of clothe stolen by the wind - Photography
Raimo Saarinen (Finland) : Ketä me rukoilemme silloin, kun rukoilu tuntuu ainoalta vaihtoehdolta? (Who do we pray when praying seems to be the last choice?) - Installation
Minna Nurmi & Clément Beraud (Finland) - Nukun metsälle (I sleep for the forest) - Video installation