LOCUS at the Helsinki Biennial 2025

Photo by Ole Løvold

LOCUS est. 2006 by artists Thale Blix Fastvold (b.1978) and Tanja Thorjussen (b.1970), based in Oslo, Norway, works from an ecofeminist perspective with performance and public art in long term collaborations with the more-than-human cohabitors of the earth like rivers, trees, eelgrass and pollinators. 
In an ongoing artistic research LOCUS sees a strong connection between how we respond to environmental issues like climate change and our renewed spiritual interest and connection to nature.
Working with performance and public art in series over time, and in repetitive actions, the artworks become rituals of care focusing on our interconnectedness with the elements of  water, fire and earth.  
LOCUS choose materials that are local and sustainably sourced with respect to others - be that other humans, animals, insects or plants, as we all collaborate to envision new futures together.
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​Contact: [email protected] // Instagram: Locus_Oslo 

The third edition of Helsinki Biennial showcase the work of around 35 artists and artist groups across three distinct venues this summer: Vallisaari Island, Esplanade Park, and HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Taking Shelter as its theme, this major art event brings a summer-long celebration of art to the Finnish capital from June 8 to September 21, 2025.
Helsinki Biennial 2025 present the work of around 35 artists and artist groups from Finland and around the world. Roughly half the featured works will be site-specific new commissions premiering in Helsinki. The first eleven participants announced to date are Band of Weeds (FI), Ana Teresa Barboza (PE), Sara Bjarland (FI/NL), Tania Candiani (MX), Olafur Eliasson (DK/IS), Geraldine Javier (PH), LOCUS / Thale Blix Fastvold & Tanja Thorjussen (NO), nabbteeri (FI), Ernesto Neto (BR), Otobong Nkanga (NG/BE), and Hans Rosenström (FI).
“Inviting one and all, Helsinki Biennial is a summer-long celebration of art hosted with a big heart. We look forward to offering the public a memorable experience by presenting the work of world-class artists across three venues extending from the heart of the city to the unique maritime setting of Vallisaari Island,” says Arja Miller, Director of HAM and Helsinki Biennial.
Curated by Blanca de la Torre and Kati Kivinen, Helsinki Biennial 2025 explores the fragile relationship between humanity and the natural world. Moving beyond human-centric perspectives, the curators foreground non-human actors such as plants, animals, fungi, chemical elements and minerals. They believe this shift in perspective can foster new empathy for other living beings. A further curatorial touchpoint is the exploration of alternative ways of gathering and imparting knowledge about the world.
The theme of the third edition, Shelter, is inspired by Vallisaari’s island habitat. Surrounded by sea, this rich ecosystem has been preserved from human habitation for decades, providing a perfect shelter for diverse life forms to flourish.  This undisturbed refuge also offers visitors a rare opportunity to imagine what unfolds when humans step back and non-human actors take prominence.

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Expanding network of partners and sponsors:
Helsinki Biennial is a city-wide initiative launched as part of Helsinki’s urban strategy. This ambitious event aims to transform Helsinki into an art capital with wide appeal as a cultural destination and also to strengthen the international recognition of the entire Finnish art scene. The biennial’s main partner in 2025 is Metsähallitus, the organization responsible for managing Vallisaari Island.
The upcoming biennial is supported by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Tiftö Foundation, Saastamoinen Foundation, and the John Nurminen Foundation. The Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation has awarded HAM Helsinki Art Museum a EUR 900,000 grant for 2025-2027 for the purpose of supporting the biennial’s internationalization, strengthening its global networks, and raising the visibility of Finnish contemporary art.
The Tiftö Foundation enables Hans Rosenström’s new work, the Saastamoinen Foundation enables Ana Teresa Barboza’s new work, and the John Nurminen Foundation supports the production of LOCUS / Thale Blix Fastvold & Tanja Thorjussen’s work.
The full biennial programme and list of artists, artworks, and sponsors will be announced in spring 2025.

​MORE INFO HERE

Gilded Tree performance nr 6 Svartkulp, Oslo Norway Photo by Margarida Paiva

This edition of the performance was created for video with trees, birds, plants and ants as our audience.

The video was published on the Artists for Plants platform in sosial media on instagram: @artists_for_plants and facebook: Artists for plants

Art as sanctuary and catalyst in a time of environmental change

In our ongoing artistic research on the spiritual in art we see a strong connection between how we respond to environmental issues like climate change, species extinction and global warming, and our renewed spiritual interest and connection to earth and nature. How can art create empathy, and inspire change? How can we foster a loving dialog between nature and humans? How can art help us envision alternative futures based on deeper and broader ways of communication, how can we humans get better at listening to nature and other species? We see our gilded tree performance series as an attempted dialog, where we try to connect with the trees and aim to honor the trees we interact with through the historically traditional human medium of gilding something sacred.  
We see a shift from the anthropos/human-centered worldview and to a broader, more circular and balanced way of living and understanding of the world.  This includes honoring and nurturing all aspects of nature from dryland to wetland. We have recently made public art projects for bees with our Bee Sanctuary Garden Harriet Backers Hage in Oslo 2018 and 2019 (Funded by Bydel St.Hanshaugen), and Dagny Juels Hage 2019 at Kontraskjæret (commissioned by Oslo kommune, Bilfritt Byliv) this project is part of the official Oslo Miljøhovedstad program, and we are now working on future sanctuaries underwater with Coral Sanctuary Gardens in both tropical (Bali) and arctic (Norway) waters. These art projects are a part of our ongoing research into art works in public space which both serve nature/animals and humans in a symbiotic form.
– LOCUS / Thale Blix Fastvold & Tanja Thorjussen

Thale Blix Fastvold (b. 1978) is a Norwegian visual artist working primarily with photography, film and performance art. Thematically within the frameworks of eco feminism, inter-species-collaborations and the more-than-human intelligence, her work aims to utilise artistic research as a response to current ecological challenges. She believes collaborations, communication and speculative storytelling is essential to envision new and more sustainable futures. She has a BA in photography from Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, a Cand.mag (MA) in Art History and Literature from the University of Oslo, is educated a curator from Telemark University and has from 2018 been the elected Chairwoman of Forbundet Frie Fotografer (Norwegian association of camera based artists). www.thalefastvold.com 

​Tanja Thorjussen (b. 1970) is an artist living in Oslo (NO). Her artistic medium spans between drawing, sculpture, performance and art in public space. Through speculative research her artistic practice revolves around how ancient art can inform the present.
At the exhibition Eden and everything after at Archeological Museum – University of Stavanger (NO) in 2023 she made artworks about historical objects from the collection, speculating on its meaning and use through drawing and intuitive listening through artistic methodology. Thorjussen holds a BFA from KHIB in Bergen (NO) and Parsons The New School in New York (USA)   www.tanjathorjussen.com

Locus bee sanctuary - Dagny juels hage

"LOCUS Bee Sanctuary - Dagny Juels hage" is a public art project by LOCUS
(Tanja Thorjussen and Thale Fastvold) in collaboration with architect Don Lawrence.

The garden is a buffet for bees, bumblebees and other pollinators.
​Named after Dagny Juel (1867-1901) it incorporates her lyric poetry text "I Tusmørke".

The beegarden is one of several artprojects where we focus on the pollinators precarious situation and honor women pioners in the arts. 
​It was produced in 2019 to be first shown at Kontraskjæret in Oslo.
Since 2020 the beegarden has been shown at the Kvinnemuseum in Kongsberg in the garden of the house which was previously the home of Dagny Juel.
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​The project is supported by Bilfritt Byliv, Oslo Kommune Kulturetaten 

Review by Tommy Olsson, in Norwegian HERE

2019:
- "Kvinner" exhibition at Gallery 2 in Stamsund Norway
- Spring Break Art Show New York - LOCUS Coral Sanctuary  MORE INFO
- LOCUS Bee Sanctuary - Dagny Juels Hage at Kontrasjæret in Oslo (Supported by Bilfritt Byliv, Oslo Kommune)
- LOCUS Bee Sanctuary - Harriet Backers Hage at St.Hanshaugen in Oslo (Supported by bydel St.Hanshaugen, Oslo Kommune)
- LOCUS at Cosmoscow in Moscow Russia 6-8 Sept MORE INFO
- Untitled Art Fair, Locus performance in the Everglades, represented at Untitled by Benrubi Gallery and Coral Projects Everglades research Lab.

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LOCUS Coral Sanctuary

A collaborative project between artists Thale Fastvold and Tanja Thorjussen with architect Don Lawrence.

In 2019 we research and test projects that will be finalized in underwater structures where corals can thrive in Bali and Norway.
These sanctuaries - or laboratories, is a way for us to understand and make connections to the coral species and to its habitat.
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Environmental challenges, ecological crisis in salt water habitats leading to mass extinction of sea creatures, corals and plants are some of the issues we will research in this public art project. Our aim with these sanctuaries is to help with further growth and expansion of healthy coral habitats which is much needed in the current state of the ocean climate.

2018:
-  AVTRYKK - Grafikk mellom Kinesisk blokktrykk og dataprint / at HÅ Gamle Prestegård (NO) INFO HERE
- LOCUS bee sanctuary garden at St.Hanshaugen in Oslo / FB Event Here
- San Francisco Art Book Fair. INFO HERE
​- Cassata Drone, Palermo (IT)  "Artists, gardeners and cultivators - gathering mystical knowledge" INFO HERE / FB Event HERE
- Cosmoscow art fair, Moscow (RU) INFO HERE /  Info at ARTSY

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2017 Locus book launch at 57th La Biennale di Venezia at Pavilion of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Book launch at Palazzo Malipiero (S.Marco 3198), Bosnia and Herzegovina Pavilion, in the University of Disaster exhibition with artists Radenko Milak in collaboration with Roman Uranjek, commissioned by director Sarita Vujković of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republic of Srpska.
 Artist books exploring CoSA - Concerning the Spiritual in Art by:
 Stefano Cagol (IT), Thale Fastvold (NO), Margrethe Pettersen (NO), Tanja Thorjussen (NO)
The event is kindly supported by OCA - Office of Contemporary Art Norway and realized in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republic of Srpska.

2017:
CoSA Artist Books At Pavilion Of Bosnia And Herzegovina At The 57th La Biennale Di Venezia / FB Event Here
Bergen Art Book Fair /  INFO HERE
Museum Of Avant Garde St.Petersburg / FB Event Here
Museum Of Nonconformist Art In St.Petersburg
Arctic Hysteria Exhibition  INFO HERE / FB Event Here
Cosmoscow Art Fair In Moscow / INFO HERE / FB Event Here
Visningsrommet USF Verftet, Bergen. Arctic Hysteria Exhibition INFO HERE
Fresh Art International Podcast Interview By Cathy Byrd: LINK HERE

​ARCTIC HYSTERIA - Exhibition And Publication

​Arctic Hysteria is a research-based initiative by LOCUS (Thale Fastvold and Tanja Thorjussen), which explores the northern region in various ways through contemporary art.
 
EXHIBITION
Through this project we explore how artists react to the arctic region when doing research, and what kind of art they create.
Is it poetic, political, inspired by nature and / or the spiritual? What about history and colonization, the indigenous people versus what the arctic explorers bring into the museums? What do we see in the media, what do we learn from scientists and what can the artist portray?
The artists involved have done extensive research in the region with residencies and study-trips to create new work.
For more info see interviews with the artists about their research and residencies HERE
 
PUBLICATION:
"Arctic Hysteria- collected stories and research through contemporary art" published by LOCUS Forlag, act as research paper, artist book and catalogue. Contributors in addition to involved artists are Tommy Olsson (artist and art-critic), Maria Kotlyachkova (Pikene på Broen, Curator), Vilde Fastvold (Medical anthropology).

The publication Arctic Hysteria was launched at NY Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1 in New York.

LOCUS at Cosmoscow art fair in Moscow Russia 2017.