All along the powerlines there is reason to love the mountains
Robin Everett, Mustarinda
Robin Everett (1989, UK) is a visual artist and writer living and working between Finland and Norway with themes and concerns that encompass the macro and micro of Nordic biomes and wider socio- and techno-ecological concerns via contemporary art, environmental education, residency hosting, research, and publishing practices. Robin received his Masters in Fine Arts (2018) from Bergen Academy of Art, Norway and has since explored processes that often question how our understandings of environments and ecologies are impacted through systems that operate at the intersection of the human and more-than-human spheres, working to dissolve the boundaries between the two.
In Rjukan, Robin have created work to generate visions of possible futures for the town and the ecosystem it is embedded in through using objects of the past to perceive and map the present. The work is an alternative audio tour spreading through the town; a fictional future built from a preserved past revealing an invisible present. Through a collaboration with the historical landmarks of Rjukan’s industrial history used as very literal antennas, or aerials, Robin have recorded the electromagnetic frequencies that swarm through the town today. These frequencies, existing beyond the human capacity to sense, are evidence of the unseen energy infrastructures that are the very reason for the town’s being. The audio and electromagnetic metadata captured via these historic objects is used as site-specific parameters by which a host of neural networks trained on the history of Rjukan and science-fiction literature will generate texts exploring possible futures that lay ahead for the town.
Robin is participating as representative of the Mustarinda Association, a collaborator of the Rjukan Solarpunk Academy. The Mustarinda Association is a group of artists and researchers, whose goal is to promote the ecological rebuilding of society, the diversity of culture and nature, and the connection between art and science. At the centre of their activity lies contemporary art, boundary-crossing research, practical experimentation, communication, education and events. The Mustarinda Association reaches towards a post-fossil culture by combining scientific knowledge and experiential artistic activity. The Mustarinda Association is active both internationally and locally. Their activities are rooted at the Mustarinda house at the edge of the Paljakka nature reserve in Kainuu; the house has versatile spaces for artist and researcher residencies, as well as hosting various exhibitions and events.