RESEARCH | EXHIBITION
PROJECT: "EXPANSIVE FRONTIERS: TRACING WILDERNESS"
YEAR: 2025
EXHIBITION: "PROSTHETIC OUTGROWTHS”, V2 GALLERY AT AALTO UNIVERSITY (ESPOO, FINLAND) FROM APRIL 17–23, 2025.
“EXPANSIVE FRONTIERS: TRACING WILDERNESS” IS A RESEARCH PROJECT DEVELOPED OVER A THREE-MONTH PERIOD BY DOCTORAL RESEARCHER ANA RIBEIRO DURING HER RESIDENCY AS A VISITING RESEARCHER IN THE EMPIRICA RESEARCH GROUP AT AALTO UNIVERSITY, UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROFESSOR JULIA VALLE NORONHA.
THE PROJECT INVITES ARTISTS, DESIGNERS, RESEARCHERS, ACTIVISTS, AND LOCAL HUMAN ACTORS TO EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARTIFICIALITY AND NATURE AS EXPANSIVE AND ENTANGLED FORCES. THE FRONTIER BETWEEN THE TWO IS APPROACHED AS A CONCEPTUAL AND MATERIAL ZONE OF FRICTION—WHERE CONTAMINATION, IMBALANCE, AND SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE TAKE PLACE.
THROUGH THE LENS OF POLITICAL ECOLOGY, THE RESEARCH INVESTIGATES HOW INDUSTRIAL INFRASTRUCTURES—SUCH AS THE ÄMMÄSSUO WASTE TREATMENT CENTER AND THE ECO-INDUSTRIAL ZONES NEAR NUUKSIO NATIONAL PARK AND BOCKTRÄSK—REVEAL THE ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCTION OF “WILDERNESS” AS A SOCIO-POLITICAL FICTION. THESE FRONTIERS EXPOSE THE TENSIONS BETWEEN EXTRACTIVISM AND PRESERVATION, WHILE EMBODYING THE SPATIAL CONTRADICTIONS OF LATE CAPITALISM, LAND GOVERNANCE, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISPLACEMENT.
USING ARTISTIC AND MATERIAL PRACTICES, RIBEIRO TRACES THESE EXPANDING FRONTIERS THROUGH ANTI-AESTHETIC GESTURES, SPECULATIVE OBJECTS, AND SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATIONS. SYMBOLIC “PROSTHETICS” MADE FROM ORGANIC MATTER AND ACTIVATED CHARCOAL—DEVELOPED AT AALTO UNIVERSITY—FUNCTION AS HYBRID AGENTS OF FILTRATION AND RESISTANCE. THESE INCLUDE CHARCOAL-EMBEDDED CERAMICS FOR WATER PURIFICATION, SCULPTURAL FILTERS PLACED IN THE LANDSCAPE, AND WEARABLE “SECOND SKINS” CONSTRUCTED FROM TEXTILE WASTE, DESIGNED TO ABSORB AND RESPOND TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS THROUGH MOVEMENT.
THE PROJECT CULMINATES IN THE EXHIBITION “PROSTHETIC OUTGROWTHS”. THE EXHIBITION CHALLENGES THE ROMANTICIZED NOTION OF UNTOUCHED NATURE, INSTEAD PROPOSING THAT WILDERNESS EMERGES FROM THE RUINS OF EXTRACTION, CONTAMINATION, AND ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION.
