WHITE BLUE GOLD – Lauri Linna
Opening of the exhibition on Friday 1.11. at 18-20. Free admission, welcome!
The installation Green Blue Gold (2022-) is based on a gene bank of natural plants and video documentation collected by Linna from the Juomasuo mining project area in Kuusamo. The gene bank, collected from 2021 onwards, currently contains 190 plant pages and seeds of 74 plant species. The videos in the work will be played back from smartphones collected from Kuusam residents. One phone contains a percentage more gold and cobalt than the same amount of Juomasuo rock.
The work aims to rescue the region’s vegetation from the mining industry. By cloning and planting plants from the gene bank, they can be returned to the area after mining has ended. In 2023, the collection of the bank was also started in other mining sites in Kuusamo. Green Blue Gold was featured in the Chill Survive network’s Chewing the Tundra exhibition at the Kunsthalle Exnergasse in the cultural centre WUK, Vienna, Austria in 2022, and in a solo exhibition at Galleria Huudo in Helsinki in January 2024.
Kuusamo on tunnettu runsaasta ja monipuolisesta lajistosta. Oulangan kansallispuistosta löytyy enemmän uhanalaisia lajeja kuin mistään toisesta Suomen kansallispuistosta. Alueelta löytyy myös tieteelle ennen tuntemattomia lajeja lähes vuosittain. Runsaiden luonnonvarojen vuoksi iso osa Kuusamon puolta Uuttamaata vastaavasta pinta-alasta on kaivosyhtiöiden kiinnostuksen kohteena. Kaivokset tuottaisivat tulevaisuudessa kobolttia ja kultaa. Alueelta etsitään myös kuparia ja timantteja, ja kallioperässä on lisäksi uraania ja muita radioaktiivisia alkuaineita. Jo nyt jotkut malminetsijöiden vanhat koekairausputket vuotavat radioaktiivista vettä soihin ja puroihin luonnonsuojelualueilla.
Moni Kuusamon kaivoshanke sijaitsee Suomen suurimmaksi lähteeksi kutsutun Kitkajärven vesistön läheisyydessä. Juomasuon kaivoshanke sijaitsee aivan järvestä lähtevän Kitkajoen vieressä ja sieltä näkee 15 km päässä sijaitsevalle Rukan laskettelukeskukselle. Kaivokselta valuvat vedet todennäköisesti saastuttaisivat Kitkajoen. Joki kantaisi saastuneen veden Oulangan kansallispuiston eteläosiin, jossa vierailee vuosittain satoja tuhansia matkailijoita ihastelemassa Karhunkierroksen luontoa ja lukuisia näyttäviä koskia. Lopulta likainen vesi päätyisi Venäjällä Paanajärven kansallispuistoon.
Cobalt makes batteries efficient and is therefore a critical part of the green transition in energy production. As demand for cobalt increases worldwide, it is now called blue gold. So cobalt mining would help climate work, especially in the rapidly warming Arctic. Locally in Kuusamo, however, this shift also poses a threat to its unique nature, its inhabitants and several livelihoods, including subsistence farming.
With the war in Ukraine, the EU has made the ability to produce critical raw materials such as battery minerals on its own a key objective. Finland is also seeking to develop its own battery industry. It is likely that Europe’s peripheral regions will become sources of critical raw materials for the EU. Increased mining could ruin these regions, which are often of great natural value. Many northern communities are in a similar situation to Kuusamo.
Lauri Linna (b. 1981, Kokkola) is an artist working in Kuusamo and Helsinki. His work deals with the relationship between plants and humans, plant behaviour and autonomy. Linna is also interested in the past and the evolution of things and creatures. Since 2011, his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in Finland and abroad. Linna graduated from Aalto University’s Visual Culture and Contemporary Art (ViCCA) programme in 2013 with a Master of Media Arts and a Master of Arts in 2018.
Lauri Linna’s work has been supported by:
Finnish Cultural Foundation, Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation, (Taike) Arts Promotion Centre Finland, City of Kuusamo and U. A. Virranniemi Fund.
Translated with DeepL.com