Artist Miia Kettunen is participating in two Finnish Institute supported residency programmes over the coming year. The STEAM residency project facilitates collaboration between educators and artists from Scotland and Finland whilst Invisible Flock’s Cost of Innovation residency provides a unique opportunity for artistic development and growth. Miia spoke to us about the upcoming projects.

What drew you to these residency programmes? 

I’m approaching both from the same angle, I want to research and develop an approach that bridges the gap between nature and humankind. I want to find out whether art can be used to promote a sense of cohesion and dissolve the boundaries between the human and natural worlds. I like to use the word coherence to refer to the guiding principle of both projects. 

Tell us about your preliminary thoughts and plans for these projects? 

For the STEAM project, the plan is to construct an installation with the working title BIO-REFLECT(OR) which reflects the encounter between humans and nature. The installation will consist of small plant substrates and pupils’ self-portraits that have been made using alternative photographic processes. 

I plan to continue my research into alternative processing during Invisible Flock´s Cost of Innovation residency. In addition to that, the residency provides the opportunity to use 3D LiDar scanning technology that I’ve never used before. The goal of the residency is to explore new techniques and approaches. From a professional standpoint, it’s really pushing me to delve into digital art. 

How will the audience and wider community be part of these projects? 

As an artist I’m quite process-oriented so I don’t necessarily think about the audience separately. For STEAM, I want to keep the process as open as possible so that the participating students feel that they are part of the creative process. Alternative photography is new to me so the process should prove to be a shared learning experience. Although Cost of Innovation is primarily about developing my artistic approach and skills, I don’t feel that it’s a solitary project. An interactive approach is always far more interesting as you’re constantly faced with new impulses to react to. 

What are you hoping to have gained from these experiences? 

I’m hoping to have added depth to my artistic approach through exploring the relationship between nature and humankind. It might be that after these projects I’ll continue experimenting, but as things stand, this feels like a fundamental and naturally motivating approach. Of course, how it’s expressed artistically may change. 

Find out more about Miia’s work here.

Kuva: Päivi Kallio

Teksti: Volter Rechardt