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
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.
“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. “
Participants in Migration and conflicting issues between birds and humans
Eva Bakkeslett (NO)
Artist/Curator
Eva Bakkeslett is an artist, filmmaker and curator exploring the potential for social change through aesthetic perspectives and gentle actions.
Her socially engaged practice often combines film, participatory events and workshops.
www.evabakkeslett.com
She creates spaces and experiences that challenge our thinking and unravel new narratives, that brings our attention to the patterns that connect us to the earth as a living organism. Eva shows, lectures and performs her work worldwide and her films have been screened in numerous film festivals and art events. In 2009 her film Alchemy w as shown at MoMA, New York. She co-curated the interdisciplinary event Gentle Actions a t Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo in 2010 and recently co-curated the program Repair for ROM for Art of Architecture in Oslo. Eva has an MA in Art & Ecology from Dartington College of Art in England. She lives on Engeløya in North Norway where she now has created an Artist Residency program and studio to make a platform for aesthetic collaborations and enquiry founded in ecological and interconnected thinking and working.
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 Matantseva (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.