Kairos καιρóς

Solo exhibition, Helsinki Art Museum, 2018

Experimental colour processes and installations become a stage for fleeting moments and atmospheric phenomena. Through her works, Josefina Nelimarkka proposes views to the imperceptible worlds that are impossible to grasp directly despite the process of their influence upon us.

The installation taking over HAM Gallery is rooted in the notion of Kairos, the speculative concept of time. Kairos (‘time’ and ‘a supreme moment’ in Ancient Greek and ‘weather’ in Modern Greek) is immeasurable, non-linear time that does not run chronologically like kronos but reveals itself in passing eventuality, continuously renewing itself in all directions in which one visible possibility is just one of those not actualised.

The works themselves depend on not only the consistency of the air but also the presence of the viewer, who is invited to move within and glimpse these transient yet valuable moments. Their subtle, meditative nature invites the viewer to pause, experience, and contemplate upon the brief and unique coincidences of the present. The exhibition sources meteorological and geophysical-chemical currents as a means of materialisation and technology. The ongoing process affects and determines the space, moment after another.

The exhibition continues in the next dimension: the sensor assembled on the roof of Tennispalatsi measures air particles and the augmented reality (AR) relays this real-time data and renders the invisible world of the air particles tangible. The unique configuration of animated air shifts in colour, form and sound to correspond with the changing conditions outside, thus the content of the exhibition itself constantly changes.

The ongoing research on the atmospheric aerosol particles and climate change is presented as part of Josefina Nelimarkka’s exhibition through interactivity. Kairos is an enquiry into climate as seen through the material and energy currents of the earth and the atmosphere within the expanded time frame. It rests on the potential moment when the inexistent and invisible are brought into possibility.

Research in collaboration with Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research – INAR, University of Helsinki