ELENA NÄSÄNEN | NIGHT AND DAY
Serlachius Museum Gösta | 25 March 2023–3 March 2024
Press release 23 March 2023
Elena Näsänen’s video work Night and Day tells two stories of the climate crisis
Video artist Elena Näsänen’s exhibition Night and Day addresses the global climate crisis. For some, climate change means extreme drought, for others more frequent storms and floods. The two-channel video installation opens to the public on 25 March at Serlachius Museums in Finland.
The video work features two women who resemble each other. One of them is wandering in an extremely dry mountain region somewhere in southern Europe, the other is listening to a rising storm on an island in northern Europe. Both roles are played by the same actress, Ella Mettänen.
Are the characters doubles of each other? Or is one of the characters a figment of the other’s imagination? The resemblance refers to the fact that people are alike everywhere. The consequences of climate change and responsibility for it are therefore common to everyone.
Elena Näsänen (b. 1968) addresses climate change without blaming anyone. Even so, the video work clearly states that time for finding solutions is running out. Night and Day also focuses on the political consequences of climate change: migration, global inequality and the resultant guilt.
In her work, Näsänen combines elements of traditional film narration and video installation. The soundscape is particularly important in her works. Her artistic expression is characteristically poetic. Night and Day also conveys its message to the viewer by lyrical means, even though it deals with a difficult, politically charged subject.
Independent work alongside the film Turbulent Waters
Näsänen graduated Master of Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki in 1998. Her works have been seen at festivals and exhibitions in Finland and abroad. In 2021, she was awarded a state five-year Artist Professor grant.
Näsänen’s short film Turbulent Waters, completed in 2022, was shown at the Tampere Film Festival and the DISFF 45 Drama International Short Film Festival in Greece. The installation Night and Day is an independent work, cut partly from the same scenes.
Alongside the artist, producer Danai Anagnostou, cinematographer Jussi Eerola, sound designer Anne Tolkkinen, composer Pessi Levanto, colour grader Marko Terävä and VFX designer Jari Hakala participated in the production of the video work Night and Day. The curator of the exhibition is art historian Tomi Moisio, Serlachius Museums.
Elena Näsänen’s work and video production have been supported by Kone Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, AVEK – Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture, Finnish Film Foundation, Kenno Filmi Osk, Saastamoinen Foundation and Yle – Uusi Kino.
Press releases and photographs: https://serlachius.fi/en/for-media/
More about the Artist: https://www.av-arkki.fi/artists/elena-nasanen/
For further information and image requests, please contact:
Susanna Yläjärvi, Information Officer of the Serlachius Museums, tel. +358 50 560 0156, susanna.ylajarvi@serlachius.fi
The Serlachius Museums are open:
in the winter season, 1 September–31 May, from Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am–6 pm.
in the summer season, 1 June–31 August, every day 10 am-6 pm
Visiting addresses:
Serlachius Museum Gösta, Joenniementie 47, Mänttä
Serlachius Museum Gustaf, R. Erik Serlachiuksen katu 2, Mänttä
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