Unfortunately, due to the situation with the war in Ukraine this project has been put on hold while we find alternative solutions.
The Olonets spring migration stopover in Southern Karelia is one of the largest halting places for birds in the North-West of Europe. In between April and May about 100-200 species and 25 000 geese are registered on a daily basis. The Karelian Research Centre have had a continual monitoring program here since 1991. Unfortunately this area is becoming increasingly popular with hunters threatening the whole migration stopover since the birds may change their routesdue to the hunt. Olonets council organises a Geese Festival every year after the end of the game season, which is a very popular event. The hunting period where geese are killed is prior to the Geese festival, where these birds are being celebrated as a part of human culture. This shows an intriguing contradiction in the human relation to birds. It brings up questions of how conflicts of territory between humans and birds can be handled and in what way migration of birds could be protected. The situation in Olonets reflects that people also have a love for and great connection to birds, and this is an opening to conversations and influence to change the more negative aspects of the human- bird relation
“The Olonets spring migration stopover in Southern Karelia is one of the largest halting places for birds in the North-West of Europe. In between April and May about 100-200 species and 25 000 geese are registered on a daily basis.”
We are planning a Nest where the Russian artist Natalia Egorova and the Norwegan sound artist Frank Ekeberg will be working alongside the ornithologists, the locals and the migrating birds around the conflict between hunters, researchers and birds. The Nest will be hosted by the Karelian Research Centre in Petrozavodsk through the resident ornithologists Maria Matantseva and Sergey Simonov. The Nest is planned to start out with a research andpractical phase in place in May 2022.
Curators for this Nest is Ulrika Jansson and Eva Bakkeslett
The collaboration with Russia and the activities in this Nest is put on hold due to regulations from our funders.
Participants in Migration and conflicting issues between birds and humans
Eva Bakkeslett (NO)
Artist/Curator
Eva Bakkeslett is an artist, cultural activist and curator. Through her work, she conveys connections between nature and culture as a living organism. Communication across species boundaries, bacterial cultures and fermentation as a process and metaphor is central to her work and disseminated in the form of socially engaged and inclusive projects. Her work provides insight into poetic, sensory and transformative processes where new perspectives are revealed and materialised. Eva is curating The Conference of the Birds with Ulrika Jansson.
www.evabakkeslett.com
www.agencyofimagination.org
www.evabakkeslett.com
Ulrika Jansson (SE)
Artist/Curator
Ulrika Jansson is a Swedish artist, educator and curator based in Göteborg. In her site-specific practice she inquires how we, by engaging with stories, history, values, materials and ecology at specific locations, can gain an insight into interconnections between other creatures, people, places and times.
ulrikajansson.b-cms.se
Her public art works often engage with and accommodate birds, bats and solitary bees. She engages in and initiates interdisciplinary collaborative art projects exploring socio-ecological relationships, such as in Cultural Adaptations, a Creative Europe project led by Creative Carbon Scotland 2019-2021. She has taught and lectured at institutions including Konstfack, Uniarts Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts and Stockholm Culture Council.
Maria Mantantseva (RU)
PhD Biology
Maria Matantseva (RU) is an ornithologist, PhD, working at the Institute of Biology, Karelian Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences. She has participated in many projects on bird behaviour, ecology, trends in numbers, and conservation.
Sergey Simonov (RU)
PhD Biology
Sergey Simonov (RU) is an ornithologist, PhD of Laboratory for Zoology, Institute of Biology, Karelian Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences. During his 12 years of work experience, he has coordinated and successfully realised series of research projects supported by different organizations. Simonov uses traditional methods and actively implements the interdisciplinary approach in ornithology. He also collaborates with artists in art & science projects.