Merja Markkula
University of Turku, Finland
Abstract
The Way I See the Stars: fibre art inspired by astrobiology
Throughout my life I have studied edges, borderlines, signs determining inside and outside, insider and outsider, seeking to understand the differences – or similarities - between scientific and artistic ways of appreciating life. In 2005 I had a special opportunity to follow the lectures of the Vatican summer school of astrobiology, and expand my understanding of the origin and limiting factors of life. Inspired by this, I made strongly hairy, three dimensional black felt ‘Dark matter’, and then ‘Extraterrestrial’ art work, expressing something between known and foreign, visible and hidden, combining male and female and general mammalian features. These works were exhibited in Gerald R. Ford Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, 2006. I continued reading my notes about the inspiring lectures by Lunine et al., and ended making a series of fibre artworks called ‘Lecture notes’, and finally a series of 20 works about the origin and limitations of life. This exhibition ‘The way I see the Stars’, felt inspired by astrobiology and has been shown in Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Italy and in Kaarina, Finland. All the works have been made using fibre techniques.
Biographical Details
Merja Markkula lives and work in Kaarina, Finland. She has studied biology, agriculture, and gene/embryo technology in Finland, Canada, and Hungary, and at the Agricultural Research Centre, Finland. I has a Ph.D. and is Adjunct Professor in developmental biology (embryo technology) in the University of Turku, Finland. Since 2001 she has devoted herself full-time to art. She has made 13 solo exhibitions in Finland and 1 in Italy, Castel Gandolfo. She has participated in 20 group exhibitions in Finland, 18 in other EU countries, 5 in the U.S., and 1 in Asia. She has also given 2-15 day workshops in Germany, Italy, and England. Her work uses materials and methods selected according to the expressive needs of each project. She is the art/science consultant of a cross-disciplinary project ‘Expedition to the Baltic Sea’ that is part of the cultural capital Turku 2011 programme (www.turku2011.fi).