Kaksi kamerasilmää katsoo (Two camera eyes are watching), 2022-2024

The installation Two camera eyes are watching focuses on a gaze between a human and an octopus and the encounter that happens through this gaze. The name of the work refers to the similar eyes of these two distant relatives, eyes which are a result of two different evolutionary paths. The work invites the viewer to become the subject of the animals gaze and ponders what kind of thoughts this can provoke: Do we encounter the other animal as an individual or as a representative of their species? What kind of power relation is connected to the act of looking or to the language that we use when we talk about other animals? How are the face and eyes connected to the ways that we feel empathy?

The installation consists of video projections, a soundscape and an essay which the viewer can listen to with headphones or alternatively can be read in leaflet form.

The video material has been filmed in southern Australia in the natural habitat of the octopuses and the footage is filmed by underwater videographer Dean Spraakman. The videos are edited by Niklas Kullström and the soundscape is made by sound designer Jyri Pirinen together with the artist. The essay is translated by Kasper Salonen, read by Freja Bäckman and the sound design is by Saku Kämäräinen.

The work was exhibited at Kulttuuritalo Laikun studio, Tampere Finland, 2022 & Gallery Forum box, Helsinki Finland 2024.