We are grateful to be spending two weeks at the Old Mine Residency in Outokumpu, working on our project Hypogea: beneath the light of days, different rhythms flow. Hypogea is a research-led artistic project investigating subterranean landscapes and waterways.

Through our work, we are interested in looking at how industrial activity transforms the landscapes below our feet, which are – contrary to our cultural imagination – full of multi-layered life. We are moving within the categories of presence/absence, revelation/hiding, light/dark – looking at how underground processes of change and mutual affect often manifest above ground in subtle and sometimes unexpected ways. At the moment, we are focusing on processes related to subterranean landscapes in the context of mining, ecology and trade.

Responding to the invisibility of underground spaces, we try to encapsulate their haunting – invisible, yet strongly felt – presence through various sensorial devices, speculative approaches and alternative visualisation methods. Our approach is informed by on-site ecological and sensorial research, and combines different elements such as recordings, video and thermal imagery, speculative narrations and archival material as a way of building a more complex, multi-layered representation of a space that combines artistic and scientific methods. 

During our two weeks here in Outokumpu, we had the chance to engage with its mining history, geology, lakes and myths. In particular, we spent a lot of time in the Old Mine’s underground tunnel. Something grounding in its sounds, smells, rhythms. Something wispy in its echoes. 

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Thank you 

historical archives • rock samples • karelian pie •  lake •  geological survey maps •  postcards from the local kirppis •  forest • sound recording • nightly bird call  • mystical northern lights

We are thankful to Esko and the residency house for welcoming us so warmly, to the Vanha Kaivos people for supporting us in different ways, and to the town of Outokumpu for its charming ways.