Aspen music log, 2017
Reclaimed untreated wood, wooden dowel, glue (First of three sculptural music logs, part of Three Voices/Kolme Ääntä installation)
Konkelo, an old Finnish word rarely used by urbanites, describes when a fallen tree is caught in the limbs of a standing tree. Even in low winds, the trees rub against each other producing a distinct sound, or ääni, a voice. The existence of the word konkelo implies a culture connected to forests, forestry, as well as one of listening. The phenomenon of one tree remaining stuck in another implies an unrushed forest, slowly changing. In an industrial rushed forest, teollisuusmetsä, what sounds are lost? In a landscape of alternating monocultures of pine and birch, is the absence of certain ääniä, sounds, voices, votes. Through instruments that Linda invented and built within three different cut trees, koivu (birch), haapa (aspen) and vaahtera (maple), comes a chorus of diversity. Linda’s video and sculpture installation, explores the pace of trees’ natural rhythms, humans’ capacity to listen, and the music, song and resilience that comes from diversity.