Void residency
The two-month fully supported Deep residency by Northern Photographic Centre provides access to the 1,444-metre deep Pyhäsalmi Mine (FI). The station and the environment provide opportunities for research and art across an extensive range of fields including extreme environmental conditions, geology, particle and space research, analogue astronautics, industrial transformation, underground safety, security and testing, biotope art, renewable energy (geothermal and hydroelectric), and remote sensing as well as the past, the present and the potential futures.
The site allows for the study of the impact of the mine and its closure on the local population, the nature and the vitality of the area. The residence partner is international, multidisciplinary research and development centre Callio Lab.
The Pyhäsalmi Mine, which became the deepest mine in Europe, opened in 1962 and produced copper and zinc. Active underground mining operations ended in fall 2022, and the local community now faces structural change. The mine is currently being developed into a pump energy storage station for research, novel uses and renewable energy balancing power with the aim of creating the largest energy reserve in Finland in the future.
Artist Felicia Honkasalo was selected for the Deep residecny. Honkasalo's video Spectral Lands (2024) explores complex questions about labor, community, survival, and adaptation to the changes around us. is set in the town of Pyhäjärvi, which owes its existence to the operation of the Pyhäsalmi Mine. By extracting and refining the earth's ancient mineral wealth, these industries have not only driven technological development and economic growth, but also created a global trade network linking distant regions through the exchange of metals and natural resources - a process that has shaped the way our societies and cultures function and are structured. Dark drive for profit is altering the landscape, disrupting ecosystems and accelerating natural geological change on a planetary scale. Honkasalo highlights humanity's profound capacity to transform the planet, tracing the complex links between local actions and global consequences, and illuminating the intertwining of human desire and geological history. Spectral Lands is the second work commissioned for the More-than-Planet project and was created as part of the Deep residency at Pyhäsalmi Mine.