New artwork at Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall invites viewers to reflect on our relationship with water

The starting point for these works has been the primordial sea and bodies of water – the environments created and maintained by water, such as lakes, rivers, and mires, but also the human body and domestic gardens. The artworks have been made on Lake Hiidenvesi, in the woods of Helsinki’s Central Park, in Kilpisjärvi, Tvärminne, Oulujärvi, and on the islands of Harakka, Örö and Seili. Dialogue with scientists at different university field research stations and discussions with biologists from the Harakka Nature Centre supported the artist’s creative process. In large part, Sandgren’s artistic thinking took place whilst swimming or by flowing waters.  

Each body of water is its own living biotope, and its processes adapt to the seasons and react to human activities. In actual fact, singular concepts such as human or the sea are complex co-operative systems formed of a vast variety of organisms. Much of life and living organisms is still unknown. Sandgren’s Water Bodies makes space for organisms that can’t be seen with the human eye – microscopic creatures are given the spotlight, while the human figure retreats to the background. In these works, different scales overlap and the traces of different agencies mix together.

Sandgren works in the field of expanded photography. The photographs have been made without a camera, and record the touch of microbes, breath and the weather on light-sensitive material, drawn by sunlight. The artworks combine traces of milk and plant pigments, impressions made by family members, microscopic images of phytoplankton and zooplankton, and speculative drawings based on microbe samples from the atmosphere. Important sources for her works are family, microscopic organisms, sites, and research.

Water Bodies is an ode to the tiny powerful agents that maintain life, like cyanobacteria and diatoms, which produce a significant amount of the world’s oxygen. “The works are a result of moments of aquatic becoming-with. They invite the viewer’s curiosity and encourage interaction with different forms of life. The works give space to ponder life’s fundamental elements, its connection and continuum. Floating in the water at Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall, we recognise our strength and our bodies, and are renewed – as a part of the wider aquatic network,” artist Noora Sandgren says.

Noora Sandgren (b. 1977) works with photography, text, and spatial and event-based works of art. She explores multispecies co-existence and often shares authorship of the works with the weather, different materials and other forms of life. She collaborates on multidisciplinary projects and is part of the Bioart Society.

Percent for Art Principle brings art to the everyday

The new artwork for Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall was made possible by Helsinki’s Percent for Art principle. A part of the city’s budget for construction and renovation projects is set aside for new public artworks. HAM Helsinki Art Museum is the art expert in these projects, and the new works are added to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, managed and curated by HAM. The commissioner is the city’s Urban Environment Division and Helsinki City Executive Office. The collection already includes more than 200 works implemented through the Percent for Art principle.