Tessa Campbell Fraser's Whales at AaltoSiilo

Tessa Campbell Fraser's installation opened to the public at AALTOSIILO on 21 May, as part of the city’s programme for Oulu26 – European Capital of Culture. The installation in Oulu is a collaboration between Messums ORG, Factum Foundation, AaltoSiilo and Ocean Rising. Installed within the former cellulose silo designed by Alvar Aalto in 1931, the project is part of the ongoing transformation of AaltoSiilo into a cultural venue, led by architect Charlotte Skene Catling (Skene Catling de la Peña).

Presented within AALTOSIILO’s evolving exhibition programme, the installation forms part of a broader cultural transformation unfolding across Oulu throughout this year - and hopefully for many years to come.

Two monumental sculptures of female sperm whales were suspended from the top of AaltoSiilo. Aalto's iconic concrete structure provided the ideal backdrop to this haunting installation. The sculptures were part of an immersive environment of fragile forms, visualisations of the sounds made by whales and light.

Tessa Campbell Fraser deliberately seeks out and employs sustainable, natural, recycled or repurposed materials. In this exhibition she used recycled ghost netting, silk chiffon, latex, and synthetic (recycled) paper, made with almost no water.

The installation of the exhibit at Oulu was a collaboration between Messums ORG, Factum Foundation, AALTOSIILO and Ocean Rising.

“I am delighted that we have been able to collaborate with the Factum Foundation, AALTOSIILO and Ocean Rising. The Whales installation has continued to demonstrate that through art you can effectively communicate and address the context of our participation within the wider environment. The exhibit enables people to imagine themselves in the world from the perspective of whales, and the shared impact of our effects on the environment.”
Johnny Messum, founder of Messums ORG

Only a few weeks ago, a whale died off the German coast — the cause appears to have been low salinity in the Baltic. Climate change is even more evident in the Gulf of Bothnia, where freshwater fish can now live in the sea and the land is rising faster than sea levels. Tessa Campbell Fraser’s fragile sculptures of whales seem filled with empathy for these great creatures struggling to find a safe place to live. Aalto’s 28-metre-tall brutalist concrete silo feels like a perfect setting for the sculptures — the sound recordings in a cavernous space, and the visualisations of whale sounds that exist somewhere between water and air. I can’t wait to see them as part of Oulu26 – European Capital of Culture.
Adam Lowe, founder of Factum Foundation

The Whales installation at AALTOSIILO has been supported by Ocean Rising a charity that aims to shift how the world sees the sea. Lisa Hynes, Director of Ocean Rising said, "Tessa Campbell Fraser's whales are remarkable - visceral, beautiful and thought-provoking in equal measure. Ocean Rising exists to take the ocean into unexpected cultural spaces and connect it with people who may not otherwise think about its relevance to their lives. This exhibition does exactly that, placing the sea at the centre of some of the world’s most extraordinary sacred spaces. We are delighted to be working again with Messums whose dedication to art with purpose and reach makes them a natural partner for us, and we look forward to continuing that work together.”

This Whales installation forms part of the Active Environmentalism programming at Messums ORG which is founded on the principle that action begins with knowledge. British sculptor and climate change advocate, Tessa Campbell Fraser has aimed to unravel the interspecies communications between man and animal that are currently at the forefront of scientific research.

In-depth exploration of sperm whales led to Campbell Fraser’s research into Project Ceti and the incorporation of the science of communication into her art. Over five years, the science-based experiment in Dominica has gathered vast amounts of Sperm Whale data, using underwater hydrophones to capture and record their distinctive ‘coda-clicks’. Along with studying their behaviour and methodologies to interpret the whales’ sounds. They have already discovered that whales have varying dialects and twenty-three different patterns of ‘coda-clicks’.

Campbell Fraser’s exhibition is inspired by both the exploration of interspecies communication through decoding together with her own immersive experience swimming with the whales in Dominica. She describes, “I didn’t quite know what to expect being face-to-face with these giant creatures in their environment. I hoped I would hear them coda click, and indeed I did, but it wasn’t these sounds that gave me the intense feeling of an inter-species communication. I had no sensation that I didn’t belong in the underwater world or that we were alien to each other or that I was in any way in danger. It was almost as if we’d come from the same beginnings.”

Campbell Fraser is fascinated by the potential of scientific decoding, “the enormity of the breakthrough to mankind if we really can have an interspecies conversation - it could reshape how we coexist with nature.” In her response to the science, she has devised her own form of a Victorian Eidophone, using the vibrations of whales’ coda clicks to make her own visual interpretations of their conversations.

Event details

Dates & Time: 21 May (public opening at 17:00), 22 May (12:00 - 18:00), 23 May (12:00 - 14:00)
Where: AaltoSiilo, Alvar Aallon Katu 5, Meri-Toppila, Oulu