The Copper Venus of the Enrichment Tower / Old Mine Residency, Outokumpu

The Copper Venus was born out of a desire to play around with the graffiti found in the residence and the enormous tool images on the walls of the enrichment tower. And, of course, Venus is also associated with copper, and the same symbol represents both copper and the female!

 The artwork is essentially an imprint of a body smeared with graffiti on a towel. I rolled around in the graffiti dust and then on the towel. 

Making the imprints was messy work.

First, I had to sweep away the snow that had covered the pictures on the towels overnight.

 

Graffiti is really difficult to wash off, but fortunately, the residence had good sauna facilities. I used a mask to prevent the substance from getting into my lungs.

I sprinkled water on the tower and let it lay in the snow overnight to freeze. It was quite cold inside the enrichment tower as well, so the frozen towel stood nicely during the photo shoot.

Some of the Old Mine buildnings with the old Enrichment Tower on top.

 

Soil mesofauna

 We know so little. 

Here are the microbes in my stomach, and there should be 1,5 kg. Only recently have we started to understand their importance for health. Why do we know so little about something that is part of me?

This again is the number 1000000000.

The size of soil microorganisms (mesofauna) ranges from 0.1 mm to 2 mm and is estimated at 1 000 000 000 individuals per square metre in a well-drained soil. Soil is also home to an incredible diversity of species - estimated at around a quarter of all biodiversity on Earth. One cubic metre of Finnish forest land has a species richness exceeding that of the Amazon rainforest.

And what about the soil in e.g. Slovakia? In Crete, where it is drier? These are the questions I want to explore with you in particular. I think that without the microorganisms of the earth, there would be no culture. So much of our culture is based on agriculture, where you have that same root of the word.