Waiting for the extinction
Artist Kalle Hamm’s exhibition Waiting for the Extinction gives a voice to species of the vulnerable Arctic environment, threatened by changing and disappearing habitats. Climate change is viewed from a contemporary art perspective, where the impact of flora on life and death has a central role.
Waiting for the Extinction is the name of the titular work of this exhibition. Climate change threatens the vulnerable Arctic nature, and has already caused permanent changes in our environment. Southern plants make their way north, along roadsides and up mountains, suffocating the Arctic plants’ ability to live. The exhibition is a crossroads: the city of Kiruna is moving to the east, plants from the south are taking over in the north. Changes – both temporary and permanent – are happening before our eyes.
The other theme of the exhibition is death, the ephemerality of all things, and man’s desire to affect natural cycles, and the circle of life.
Using video, photography and sculpting, the artist examines the impact of climate change on our surroundings, and with plants as metaphorical messengers, he highlights the changes that are taking place at an ever accelerating pace. Taking inspiration from popular culture, our thoughts are carried to an array of other changes and societal transformations.
The exhibition is produced by Konstmuseet i Norr and artist Kalle Hamm.
THE ARTIST
Artist Kalle Hamm (born 1969 in Rauma, Finland), has a wide range of works on the contemporary art scene, also working with critically oriented art and experimental music. He uses a multitude of art media and techniques.