Listen to the Dust

Dust is what we all carry in our shoes. It also evokes the layers of time, memory and experience that we carry with us. If the basic building block of life is found in asteroid dust, should we not also consider dust as a form of time travel on the scale of light years?

There are more living creatures in a handful of soil than there are people on the planet. But how to identify the grain of sand in oneself? When a creature approaches death, it begins to return to the earth. It begins to decay, to become like the earth. But the earth is alive. The earthworm’s mouth is the portal – and eventually flowers will sprout from the earth.

The invited artists in the group exhibition entitled Listen to the Dust are Katariina Guthwert, Marja Helander, Marianna Henriksson, Flis Holland, Liisa-Irmelen Liwata, Mayumi Niiranen-Hisatomi, Milla-Kariina Oja, Shubhangi Singh and Niina Tervo.

The exhibition also includes works by Anni Arffman, Lauri Astala, Ilkka Halso, Ulla Harju, Tuula Lehtinen, Anni Rapinoja and Aarre Viinikanoja from the collections of the Oulu Art Museum and the Aine Art Museum.

In addition to the galleries on the ground floor, the exhibition continues outdoors in the museum’s rear courtyard with raised-bed garden. The garden is a collaboration between Oulu Art Museum, City of Oulu youth workshops and Oulu Centre for Sustainable Development.

The exhibition is curated by Selina Väliheikki, curator of the Oulu Art Museum.

The exhibition is made possible with the kind support of the Finnish Heritage Agency.