NEW PROCESS COLLABORATION WITH ARTIST JOSEFINA NELIMARKKA

MIST FUTURITIES - JOSEFINA NELIMARKKA

Artist Josefina Nelimarkka and Aslak Aamot Helm from Diakron have initiated a collaborative process with support from The Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark. 

With support from the Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark artist Josefina Nelimarkka and curator and researcher Aslak Aamot Helm have started a joint research process. Over the next two years, Nelimarkka will visit Denmark where Aamot Helm will facilitate meetings with climate scientists, geologists who specialise in Arctic conditions. In addition, the process will facilitate meetings with experts specialising in relationships between the different stages of melting processes (ice, water, vapour) as it relates to changes in Arctic weather systems and atmospheric conditions. At the heart of the project is an interdisciplinary dialogue between art and science, aiming to create new avenues of artistic research and practice for Nelimarrka and allow her to explore innovative ways of working with climate change phenomena through art.

Nelimarkka’s long-term artistic research focuses on the physicality of water: Arctic clouds, deep time of ice, and the understudied effects of northern air masses on global temperatures and Earth’s water cycle. According to recent studies, the polar effect is believed to be much stronger than currently estimated in climate models. There are uncertainties in the predictions of cloud formation and future sea-level rise, particularly concerning the loss of sea ice and the ice sheets in Greenland. The project brings together Arctic clouds, ice cores, water isotopes, transparent materiality, and experimental data technologies in collaboration with specialized researchers across art and science.

The process was initiated through a short research residency in autumn 2025, during which Aslak Aamot Helm facilitated a series of meetings for Nelimarkka with, among others, biologists, Arctic researchers, and representatives from the Geological Survey of Denmark (GEUS). The discussions covered the movement of ice, climate models, the properties of water, and Arctic weather systems. Another research residency is planned for 2026, and the process will culminate in a presentation of Nelimarkka’s project with an exhibition in 2027. Beyond the exhibition, the project will also be presented online and through artist talks.

Josefina Nelimarkka is a Finnish interdisciplinary artist. In her research-based practice, she explores atmospheric phenomena and perception, combining artistic and scientific perspectives. Her multisensory approach focuses on the symbiotic relationship between nature and technology, transforming weather, clouds, and real-time environmental data into interactive experiences and immersive installations that heighten planetary awareness and foster a deeper connection to the ecosystems that sustain us. Collaboration with climate scientists, paleoclimatologists, and technologists is ongoing. Nelimarkka graduated with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London and an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. She has held numerous international exhibitions, most recently The Cloud of Un/knowing at the Amos Rex Museum in Helsinki, Futurs Horizons at the Institut français in Paris, Kairos: Recall of Earth at AIL in Vienna, and Shared Spaces at Helsinki Art Museum (HAM).

Aslak Aamot Helm is a Danish curator and researcher who develops collaborations and builds organizations at the intersection of art, science, and technology. He is a co-founder of Diakron in Copenhagen, a transdisciplinary studio that works across institutional landscapes to develop collaborations, organizations, and artistic projects. Aamot Helm has collaborated with and advised institutions such as the Guggenheim in New York, the Serpentine in London, the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, and the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. As of 2026, he is working on a postdoctoral research project, tracing the aesthetics of rising levels of unknowability in the biological sciences in collaboration with the Natural History Museum Denmark (DK) and Museum für Naturkunde (DE) in Berlin.