In the artworks of Kristiina Ljokkoi human time and human scale often meet biological time and scale. Durational processes are not totally controlled by a human being and there is a specific non-human dimension of existence in Ljokkoi´s living sculptures. Otherwise invisible microscopic worlds of molds and plants can be reached with lenses. Other important topics in Ljokkoi´s art are material cycle and energy flow in the ecosystem. Kristiina Ljokkoi (born 1986) has graduated from department of art of Aalto University and has studied art, art pedagogy, art theory and biology.
The underlying notion of Kristiina Ljokkoi’s work Jälke(e)ni is the traditional Garden of Life and Death. It suggests that life is a continuum both in the spirit of eastern philosophy and also in the light of ecosystem thinking. The work consists of a quantity of soil that would be the end result of composting the artist herself. The soil serves as a substratum for plants, the seeds of which are part of the artist’s diet.
Life Studies is a city living inside a glass terrarium, forsaken by humans. The city is not without life, however, as the absence of people allows other...