The installation Julia Lohmann designed for the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020, is on display at the A Bloc shopping centre in Otaniemi.
This September, you can experience Julia Lohmann's Kombu Ahtola algae piece at Annantalo (Annankatu 30, Helsinki) on 20 August 2020–31 January 2021.
Kombu Ahtola is part of the Criss-Crossing Ecologies exhibition at Annantalo.
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Julia Lohmann’s magnificent seaweed pavilion was originally displayed at the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020.
The multisensorial seaweed pavilion, entitled Hidaka Ohmu, represents 'The ‘Department of Seaweed’, a community of practice Lohmann founded around the sustainable development of seaweed as a material for making.
When you approach Lohmann’s pavilion, you can’t ignore the strong scent of the sea, Lohmann’s installation enables visitors to immerse themselves with all their senses. Through it, she is encouraging everyone to try and get closer to the sea and its lifeforms.
With her fascinating and thought-provoking seaweed sculptures and interventions, Lohmann joins the ranks of Greta Thunberg, Sylvia Earle and Al Gore to call for urgent changes to address the climate crisis.
Hidaka Ohmu’s message highlights our limits as humans. No human can ever know the ocean like the species that live underwater but at the same time, our way of life constantly impacts the ocean. ‘We must become aware of these limits of our knowledge and empathically engage with the species we impact. We need to put their needs at the centre of every decision we make since they have as equal a right to life on this planet as we do’ Lohmann adds.
Lohmann refers to Peter Senge, a world-famous scholar who has studied organisational change and empathy. She says his theories of system change suggest that ‘it’s not enough to intellectually understand the challenges we’re facing, we also have to understand emotionally what the decisions we need to make are, and how we can be brave enough to make the decisions and change. It’s always scary to change.’
The team:
Professor Julia Lohmann (Department of Design in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture)
Anne Hirvonen, Emma Sivusalo and Jussi-Pekka Alanen explore whether biodegradable materials made from natural substances such as algae could replace non-biodegradable materials and have features that are crucial in disposable packaging?
Lohmann’s magnificent seaweed pavilion won the sustainable design category for Dezeen Awards 2020.
Making things and manufacturing processes produce pollution and environmental degradation, draining natural resources.
