At the Pole of Heaven, Video-performance, 2008-12

A sculptural set of three birch ladders was created during a residency at the Mekrijarvi Forest Research Station in the summer of 2008 intended as the set for the Her Blue Sea Fire live performance that was presented in Finland several months later in March 2009.  When set up to test the stability of the ladders on the shore of Lake Mekri, I made a performance in-situ for the camera, which was later edited and made into a single-channel video. The performance vignette is inspired by the creation story with the air-goddess Ilamtar in Canton 1 of the Finnish epic poem, The Kalevala.  9:40 minutes.  2K HD video.

This video and related supplementary material (raw footage, photos) is in the permanent collection of the Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland.

 

SCREENINGS & EXHIBITIONS:

  • A 2-minute excerpt from this vide-performance is presented in Act I of the “every.single.one” theatrical live performance as part of its projection design. 2023-25.
  • Performative Ecologies, Small group art exhibition curated by Patricia Watts, CURRENTS 826 Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Exhibited as video installation w/ material object. 2020.
  • The Exhibition: Between Heaven & Earth, Juried, group art exhibition. Organized by YATOO (Korean Nature Arts Association) Yeonmisan Nature Art Center gallery, Gongju, South Korea. 2015.
  • Puut Punalle, Maat Sinelle (Red the Trees & Green the Land), Solo exhibition with multiple works presented, including this piece. MEDIAPiste Gallery, Pori Museum of Art, Pori, Finland. Pia Kovi-Assad, Curator. 2013-14.
  • At the Pole of Heaven, Solo video installation in art exhibition. Media Room, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri. 2012.
  • Women & Water Rights, Juried group art exhibition. Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, Wisconsin.
  • Women & Water Rights: Rivers of Regeneration, Juried group art exhibition. Cascade Meadow Wetlands & Environmental Science Center, Rochester, Minnesota. 2010. 
  • Women and Water Rights: Rivers of Regeneration, Juried group art exhibition. Lucy Lippard, Juror. Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Regis Center for Art, U of MN, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  • Video Festival dell’Acqua 2009, Video of the Water Festival. Invited. Spazio Contemporary Art Space, Campagna, Italy. 2009.
  • Festival de la Revolution Regueb, Film Festival. Regueb, Tunesia. Select films from the Signes de Nuit International Film Festival. 2013.
  • Signes de Nuit International Film Festival, program on independent cinema of /related to Finland: “Mystery, Nature, Transcendence.” Aired on Tele Bocal, Paris, France. 2013.
  • Screening for the annual AiNIN (Artists in Nature International Network) Conference, Theater Hall, Parc naturel régional Scarpe-Escaut, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, France. 2012.