2017 SEP–NOV
Liinu Grönlund
Artist Liinu Grönlund is FCINY’s and Triangle Art Association’s Artist-in-Residency in September–November 2017.
Liinu Grönlund utilizes the tradition of essay film and documentary form as a vehicle for critically observing the personal. As a former student of natural sciences she eagerly follows the research of biologists and frequently addresses environmental issues in her work. At the same time she contemplates her own role as an artist as well as her existence as one of the animals on this planet.
Grönlund's work depicts the constant pursuit for truth and the means of approaching this goal. She is particularly interested in how researchers frame their subject area in great detail at this time of accelerating destruction of natural habitats. Researchers' work is a means to finding out things about the world when at the same time the very thing they are observing is vanishing.
Both of Grönlund's most recent video works deal with the environmental crisis: To the Unknown (2017) is a film which follows scientists work in the vanishing forests of Madagascar. It could have been (2017) plays with the idea of rats inheriting the world from us – the video was shown at the Open Source Gallery in Brooklyn in Spring 2017. The neverending exploration, the very notion that things are not ready, or perfect, are the underlying sources of motivation for her work. At its core, it is about finding alternative solutions and hope.
Currently Grönlund is working on various projects, one of which is a thriller together with artist Salla Tykkä. It is a film about the disappearance of two women and of escaping to a better parallel world. She's also developing a futuristic documentary film with co-director artist Okku Nuutilainen. This film explores the idea of keeping species in artificial environments and storing them in captivity for the better times to come.
During her stay at the Triangle residency Grönlund will immerse herself in research for a new video work which examines the current political atmosphere and how it is experienced on an individual level, especially in NYC. She will also continue to develop her other moving image projects.
Grönlund studied fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki and documentary film at Aalto University in Helsinki.
http://fciny.org/residency/juuso-noronkoski http://fciny.org/residency/maija-timonen http://fciny.org/residency/henna-riikka-halonen