Anna Zeilinger

I am a young artist from Austria and had the good fortune to work in Finland as an artist in residence at Santun Talo in Keuruu and at Kolin Ryynänen in September and October. I met several interesting Finnish artists. What interests me the most in Finnish art is environmental art. I consider the Finnish approach very unusual because it combines so many different aspects of nature, artificiality, the relations of people to the natural environment and so much more.

Unfortunately Finnish environmental art is hardly known in Austria. Therefore I'd like to put together an exhibit on Finnish environmental art in Austria. It should include photographs and maybe also other forms of documentation such as videos or sketches, where applicable. I am looking for work both from emerging and established artists.

I am an artist and not a museum curator so I must first put together a concept and then look for an exhibition space. So far everyone I have talked to has been enthusiastic about my idea so I am confident that it will happen but I am not sure yet when and where. (I am aiming for 2008 but it could also be 2009).

I cannot promise yet where and how the exhibit will take place.

photo: Anna Zeilinger
Kueruu, Red lake

Anna Zeilinger

I am very much interested in participating in artist networks.

Also, the workshops and exhibitions sound interesting. I would like to know more about them. I work with photography - my current work is half way between photography and environmental art - environmental with other means, so to speak - and if this is interesting to you, I could teach a workshop within a workshop on how to make good quality images from your environmental art work suitable for publication or exhibitions. That way the artists could all save money in the future by not having to pay for professional photographers.

I am sending information on my most recent exhibit, which took place in Finland.

’Koli Cantata’, Galleria Tyko, Nurmes, January 20 - February 28

The show brings together work by artists in residence at the Art and Culture Center Kolin Ryynnänen in 2006. I was invited by the Arts Council of Northern Karelia for an artist’s residency in October. Preceding this residency, I had the opportunity to work at Santtu's House in Central Finland, at the invitation of Keuruu Museum.

My project was supported by the Austrian embassy in Helsinki.

In my current work I focus on the concepts of nature and artificiality. I document situations found in nature and also create installations of my own. While man’s impact on the environment is huge, an ephemeral quality nevertheless can be found in man-made materials and constructions.

The final products of my work are photographs; in contrast to more traditional forms of environmental art, some of my work is completed digitally. Through the use of technical devices I try to minimize my own impact on the environment.

I allude to the Land Art movement of the seventies without, however, always making changes in the actual landscape as artists did then. I see my work as a response to traditions in landscape painting, photography and installation. Firstly, it is a reflection on how nature can be translated through means of visual art. Secondly, it is also a reflection on what nature and sustainability may be. I want to show that our established ideas of what the image of an unspoilt environment may be should be questioned - something that cannot exist in nature may appear to be beautiful or even natural.