Organ River

The exhibition features two spatial works: an audio installation built inside pump organs and a multi-channel video installation. In the video installation, a pump organ is transported along waterways to bring culture to a country that does not yet have a road network. In some respects, Finnish cultural history can be summed up in one object, and it is a pump organ.

Pump organ reminds me of going back in culture and time, perhaps even to our ancestors who traveled along rivers not only concretely, but to other dimensions as well. The ancient Finns would have played pump organs if they had existed at the time. As a continuation of my childhood in a village school in Eastern Finland, I started collecting pump organs for this exhibition. For me, a pump organ is a magical instrument that has its own lungs, it’s like its own organism. 

The piece is supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland and Pro AV Saarikko.