Photosonic Landscapes panel
with Minna Långström, Leah Beeferman, Mika Taanila and Tytti Rantanen (moderator)
Thursday, November 12, 18h– (Finnish time, UTC+2)
Online at https://biofriction.org/stream/

Welcome to a panel discussion related to Minna Långström and Leah Beeferman's current exhibition Photosonic Landscapes in Color!

How does a scientist approach images? How does an artist approach natural sciences? Could artists’ moving image based on scientific images expand our understanding on science - or on art? How have the paths of film industry and astronomy crossed in history? In the panel discussion, artists Minna Långström, Leah Beeferman, and Mika Taanila discuss with solar astronomer Sara Martin on the poetic and pragmatic uses of scientific images. The discussed imagery extends from astronomy to arctic landscapes and underwater visions. The panel discussion is moderated by Tytti Rantanen, programme coordinator from AV-arkki.

The evening starts with a talk by Sara Martin. She will highlight a selection of studies from her career in Solar Astronomy, to which she was first introduced at McMath-Hulbert Observatory in 1959. Martin will discuss, among other things, her finding a way to forecast some eruptive solar events, her surprising discoveries of canceling magnetic fields and chirality in solar features, as well as establishing the nonprofit Corporation, Helio Research in 1995.

The panel will be streamed live at https://biofriction.org/stream/.

The Photosonic Landscapes in Color exhibition is on view at SOLU Space until November 21.

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Minna Långström
Minna Långström is a media artist and filmmaker from Helsinki, Finland. Her artistic work consists of participatory cinematic installations, short films and documentaries. Her working processes tend to be extensively researched and interdisciplinary. Långström’s films and artworks have been selected to numerous film festivals and exhibited at museums and galleries such as Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and Frankfurter Kunstverein. 
http://minnalangstrom.net/

Leah Beeferman
Leah Beeferman is an American artist working with landscape through digital image-making, photography, video, text and sound. Her work explores the relationships between observation and abstraction, natural and digital, physical and experiential. Beeferman has had solo exhibitions at Rawson Projects, New York and Sorbus, Helsinki, and her works have been exhibited in many international group shows. She is currently based in Providence, USA, where she is an adjunct lecturer at Brown University and a critic at RISD. 
https://www.leahbeeferman.com/

Mika Taanila
Mika Taanila is a film director and visual artist based in Helsinki. His projects address the notion of human engineering, whether it’s film-making, visual arts or music. Taanila's moving image installations have been shown at major international group shows, such as Venice Biennale (2017), Aichi Triennale (2013) and Documenta (2012), as well as in several solo shows. In 2015 Taanila was awarded The Ars Fennica prize.
mikataanila.com 

Sara Martin
Sara Martin is a solar astronomer based in California, USA. She is the Executive Director of Helio Research, a non-profit corporation for research and education in the astronomical sciences. Martin’s research in solar astronomy includes studies of solar activity including active regions, sunspots, filaments, prominences, small-scale ephemeral active regions, and their magnetic fields as they change over the solar cycle. Martin has published widely, and worked with and guided the research projects of post-doctorates, graduates and undergraduates. She has worked with solar telescopes at the former Lockheed Solar Observatory, San Fernando Observatory, Big Bear Solar Observatory and most recently, the Martin Telescope at Helio Research.

Tytti Rantanen
Tytti Rantanen has worked as a programme coordinator for AV-arkki, the Centre for Finnish Media Art, since 2016. She is one of the editors-in-chief for a philosophical quarterly, niin & näin, and a member of the editorial board in Filmihullu, the oldest Finnish film magazine. Rantanen writes about moving image and literary culture for various outlets in Finland and also curates film and video art screenings. She is a member of the board of Espoo Ciné International Film Festival.

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The panel is part of Biofriction, a European collaboration project committed to supporting bioart and biohacking practices. The Biofriction project is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Image from the film Solar Phenomena by the Lockheed Solar Observatory shot in 1967-1969 by the research team Sara Martin was part of, for the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center.