The Anthropocene pushed the species on the move. Arctic species are seeking new habitats from the more North, because current habitats are not anymore ideal for them.
The human being is also moving species from one continent to another in massive scale, which wipes out the natural geographical distance and obstacles between the continents. When conditions change, plants and animals have three options: to move, to adapt to the changed conditions – or to disappear.
MOVE, ADAPT OR DISAPPEAR
The Garden of Invasive Alien Species introduces four species, which are qualified as invasive alien species in Finland by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. These four species are Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera), Persian hogweed (Heracleum persicum), Japanese rose (Rosa rugosa) and Big-leaved lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus). The several campaigns were launched to get rid of these plants in Finland, although human brought all of them to Finland in the very beginning.
According to the official texts of ministry, invasive alien species are spreading over in uncontrollable way, spoiling the cultural landscapes, suffocating endogenous flora and degrading the value of land. If you compare these statements to the racist hate speech, you will found them strikingly similar: make more children than the Finns, lower the value of the neighbourhood and real estates, does not fit to “original” Finnish flora, nature, etc. The ministry demonized the invasive alien species and showed them only as a thread.
The soundtrack of the video work is made by recording changes of electro-magnetic fields of plants, and the final track was produced from the collected biodata. The Garden of Invasive Alien Species gives a voice to the species, which are not wanted to Finland, but which are forced to move from their natural habitats, because human is destroying the ones or moved the species to Finland.
The Garden of Invasive Alien Species, Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger
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Kalle Hamm was born in 1969 in Rauma, Finland, he lives and works in Helsinki. Hamm graduated from the Lahti Fine Art Institute 1994 and received an MA from the University of the Art and Industrial Design, Helsinki 2002.
Dzamil Kamanger was born in 1948 in Mariwan, Iran. Kamager is an Iranian Kurd living in Helsinki, Finland since 1994. He studied Ceramic in the Kermanshah University and received an MA in 1973.
Their works of art examine cultural encounters and their impacts both in historical and contemporary contexts. Hamm and Kamanger have collaborated since the year 1999. www.beelsebub.org
Garden of Invasive Alien Species was recently presented as part of the exhibition Why Listen to Plants? at North Norwegian Art Center in Svolvær, Lofoten.
KLIMAAKSJON / NORWEGIAN WRITERS´ CLIMATE CAMPAIGN // NWCC 