In 1996, after being presumed extinct for over a century, 16 Great Cormorants reemerged in the southern Finnish archipelago. Following the event, their population has rapidly multiplied. As of July 2023, 50,000 cormorants have occupied over 150 Finnish islands. And with the spreading of their highly acidic guano, vegetation is eaten away by ammonia, leaving the islands desolate; with eerie skeleton trees glazed in thick layers of white mucus.

Iida Jonsson & Ssi Saarinen’s work deals with landscapes in depression: corroded islands, submerged fields, third urban spaces, and infected farmlands. In their practice, they are interested in the rendering of landscapes and how it influences our understanding of ecological emergencies. They encounter the deviating with tenderness, approaching seemingly disastrous topologies with affection.

Their research process starts with pre-existing documentation, relying on amateur photography: spontaneous, raw, low resolution, and captured with little intention. The duo intervenes with these images in a process close to painting: re-scaling, editing, and manipulating the ink much like how memories are formed through composite drawing. Similarly, they document field trips through video, capturing pathways and observations, like a first-person-point-of-view reconstruction of a crime.

The documentation of these latent landscapes is not just metaphorical, but a very real way to reconstitute a temporality, assembling an alternative understanding of historical timelines.

iida jonsson and ssi saarinen are Berlin-based artists from the Finnish archipelago. The duo have MFA:s from Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Their work has been presented at e.g. Kunsthall Charlottenborg (DK), Konstmuseet I Norr (SE), De Thomas (NL), and Kunstverein (NL). They have a background as professionals in cinematography, video editing, and image retouching.

The exhibition features the release of the song “GAME” by Himmel C. Fell. 

Video colors by Julija Steponaitytė.