Daemon (Greek: daimon, guardian spirit) is the most recent series of artwork by Hannu Karjalainen, making its debut at Kunsthalle Turku. The series stems from reflections on the future of humankind and its relationship with nature.
Karjalainen’s film Daemon (2020) navigates the ground between real and unreal, abstract and absurd as it unravels online comments of trolls criticising climate action. Running on the logic of a dream or a nightmare, the film stirs thoughts about the future of humankind. Will we be able to act as a united front in the face of a disaster or will we become paralysed, waiting for some supernatural force to step in?
For the Daemon series, Karjalainen gathered materials and litter from the shores of the Baltic Sea, building them into images using a flatbed scanner and various experimental scanning techniques. In the images, the organic and synthetic materials transform into colourful, interwoven mass.
Hannu Karjalainen (1978), Young Artist of the Year 2009, has exhibited his videos, films and photography in museums, galleries and festivals internationally since 2003. He has held solo exhibitions in cities such as Helsinki, Oslo, Zürich and Berlin. Karjalainen also works with electronic music, recording for labels such as the Berlin-based Karaoke Kalk.
