SPLICE – an international exhibition of contemporary art produced by the Bioartsociety and the Oulu Museum of Art – focuses on our changing environment and the relationship between human and nature. Since time immemorial, we have admired the fundamental order of nature when looking for inspiration, interpretation and answers. In more recent times, developments both intentional and unintentional have shaped our physical environment as well as our collective mindscape. This gradual transformation brings together existing and emerging ideas, beings and phenomena, creating unexpected possibilities and connections. The paradigm shifts also create new challenges to artists who question and comment on them through their works.

SPLICE examines traditional conceptions of nature, the processes behind the current changes and the new ways of thinking that they entail. It focuses on emerging personal and collective ways of thinking about nature. It presents multi-discipline, crossover works from modern perspectives, opening new understandings of the world we live in. The exhibition is curated by Nina Czegledy, a Canadian artist, curator, teacher and author who works in international projects that combine art, science and technology, and the Bioartsociety.

The exhibition features works by the following artists: Lauri Anttila (FIN), Risto-Pekka Blom (FIN), Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg (UK) & Sascha Pohflepp (GER), Antye Greie (FIN/GER), Ilkka Halso (FIN), Kalle Hamm (FIN), Pekka & Teija Isorättyä (FIN), Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen (FIN), Antero Kare (FIN), Olga Kisseleva (RUS), Carolin Koss (FIN/GER), Mia Mäkelä (FIN), Agnes Meyer- Brandis (GER), Tuula Närhinen (FIN), Kira O'Reilly (FIN/IRE), Anu Osva (FIN), Johanna Rotko (FIN), Tibor Szemző (HUN), Leena Valkeapää & Oula A. Valkeapää (FIN) and Jana Winderen (N). Some of the artists are featured through the AV-arkki video compilation.

Additional events including workshops, artist interviews and guided tours expand on the motifs and provide food for thought. The series of events is launched with an open seminar held on Saturday 20 May from 10 to 15 with the curators, a number of artists featured in the exhibition, anthropologist/archaeologist Judith van der Elst (NL) and professor Seppo Vainio.

The exhibition and the special events are supported by Finnish Cultural Foundation, University of Oulu (Genes and Society Argumenta Project), Arts Promotion Centre Finland and AV-arkki.

^{Photo above: Ilkka Halso, Kitka River, From the series Museum of Nature 2004. Photo Mika Friman.}

^{Kira O´Reilly, Be-wilderment (Nature Drag) 2017. Photo Mika Friman}