Mia Mäkelä: Green Matters
Green Matters is a utopian attempt to save Baltic Sea by collecting green algae and exploring its possibilities as textile material. It is at the same time a commentary on the eutrophication problem. Eutrophication is a serious challenge for the Baltic Sea. The main culprit for this eco-catastrophe is claimed to be the agricultural waste that has been dumped into the Baltic Sea during generations. Collecting algae at certain moment of its cycle, could relieve the state of the sea and reduce the amount of nutrients.
Mia Mäkelä has collected and experimented with algae during the summer of 2010 at the The Archipelago Research Institute and on the island of Oura. She collected, processed an weaved rugs and documented the whole process on video. The video, also published in internet, shows how everyone can, at least in theory, start their own algae rug weaving with traditional Finnish handraft techniques.
The Green Matters exhibition resembles a laboratorium of an algae hunter. In July Mia will work new algae works in the exhibition space and the public is invited to participate in creating experimental algae textils.
The exhibition is located in the Turku University Botanical Garden in a Green Matters -greenhouse.
Financed by Turku2011 Foundation, AVEK, Arts Council of Finland, Ympäristötaiteen Säätiö, Frame
Partners: Turku University Archipelago Sea Research Centre, Merikarvia County, Kivikangas Oy, Foiltek Oy, Genelec Oy
Support: Hannele Köngäs, Tyyne Mäkelä, Michael Ebert
