GMU:Re-enchanting the field/Jiun-You Ou: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:06, 11 August 2025

Sublime Proxy (Working Title)

Abstract

The project explores post-industrial transformation in the former Kohtla-Nõmme mine through photographic mediation. By showing how archival aesthetics resonate with recreation-oriented landscapes, it questions how both image and repurposed landscape act as proxies, aestheticizing historical extraction and obscuring the complexity of transformation.

Context

Outside of the Eesti Kaevandusmuuseum (Estonian Mining Museum), there is a huge area now called Kohtla mining park, which is repurposed from the former Kohtla open-pit mine. On the day of our visit to the museum, it was impressive to see children jumping across the mountain-like, artificial landforms while jeeps carrying screaming schoolchildren drove through them. It was a surreal fusion of post-industrial landscape and a tourist attraction. Seeing the area transformed from an extraction site into a playground raised the question of what exactly had been repurposed here, and how the notion of transformation has been conveyed in the region.

Process, Methods, Findings

Drawing on Walter Benjamin's concept of mechanical reproduction and its relation to historical distance, I used analogue tools to materialize temporal friction. The use of expired KODAK T-MAX 400 120 mm film (expired on 06/1991, coinciding with Estonia's regained sovereignty) produced grainy, slightly opaque images because of their reduced light sensitivity, while the paired panoramic pinhole camera created a decentralized depth of field. The derived materiality of the expired films and the paired camera mechanism serve as main mediators in this exploration, creating images that embody the notion of proxy. These mediations, combined with the political transformation since 1991 as realized partially through landscape repurposing, offer an alternative sense of 'transformation' that goes beyond mere visual documentation. The photographs simulate 'history' rather than depict it; their archival aesthetics imply a romanticized, nostalgic distance that softens and obscures the difficulties of contemporary realities. They resonate with the recreation-oriented transformation of the land by creating a comforting, safe distance — the mountainous piles of waste rock are presented as an intriguing playground, encouraging visitors to view post-industrial landscapes as leisure destinations rather than sites of past extraction. Such aesthetic distances are not mere visual relief; they actively operate as proxies. Both image and transformed landscape replace potential doubts, disagreement, or even confrontation with curated, palatable forms, effectively aestheticizing historical and environmental violence and veiling the complexities of the transformation.

Project

scanned 120mm film negatives (expired in 06/1991) with digitally positive conversion, from selected locations in the former Kohtla-Nõmme open-pit (Ida-Viru maakond, Estonia).

Reference

Azoulay, Ariella Aïsha. The Civil Contract of Photography. New York: Zone Books, 2008.

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Translated by Harry Zohn. In Illuminations, 217–252. New York: Schocken Books, 1968.

Mildeberg, Saara. “A Post-Industrial ‘Adventure Land?’ Challenges for Cultural Tourism Development in the Estonian Oil Shale Region”, 2024

Steyerl, Hito. “Proxy Politics: Signal and Noise.” e-flux Journal, no. 60 (2014). https://www.e-flux.com/journal/60/61045/proxy-politics-signal-and-noise/

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-'''Background Info'''
+'''Sublime Proxy''' (Working Title)
-In recent years, my ongoing research interests and working materials have primarily focused on stone—mainly in a sculptural sense, involving form, composition, and materiality. Since the end of 2023, I have also begun to work with sound through a specific sonic-spatial approach. This involves recording and processing soundscapes I create and interpreting them as part of an evolving atlas. Although I work with stone and sound at the same time, I didn't intend to do a project like 'the sound of stone' :) Up to this moment, sometimes there was a connection between stone and sound, but if not, not necessarily to force it to be connected and presentable. Thus, With this BIP project, I aim to continue both my sonic and material-based practices while exploring them through new perspectives and methods.
+'''Abstract'''
-'''Project description'''
+The project explores post-industrial transformation in the former Kohtla-Nõmme mine through photographic mediation. By showing how archival aesthetics resonate with recreation-oriented landscapes, it questions how both image and repurposed landscape act as proxies, aestheticizing historical extraction and obscuring the complexity of transformation.
-As an Asian, my life in Europe has often been nomadic. These years of experience have led me to explore the oscillation and tension between massiveness (e.g. architecture, landscape) and ephemerality (e.g. sound) - a metaphorical approach to reflect my nomadic life. Continuing this interest, the fieldwork in Narva will be based on a reflection on how geological analysis and sonic approaches - such as mineral classification, cross-sectional landscape mapping and field recording - can be reinterpreted as metaphorical fragments of individual existence and ways of life. These fragments, like scientific samples or sound data, open up non-linear readings of space, time and lived experience - resonating with the nomadic rhythms and discontinuities of everyday life. The interrelationship between layered matter and perceptual experience becomes central. Rather than forcing a literal connection between sound and stone, I focus on how both can serve as tools for observing the interstices of a place or a self - without narrative closure, but with open-ended resonance. Although the starting point is rooted in personal experience, I believe it also speaks to broader shared conditions within post-industrial landscapes/scenes - where fragmentation, displacement and perceptual layering have become common modes of existence.
+'''Context'''
-In addition to the online archive, the expected results could become a part of my ongoing project 'Atlas' as an installation with an accompanying booklet.
+Outside of the Eesti Kaevandusmuuseum (Estonian Mining Museum), there is a huge area now called Kohtla mining park, which is repurposed from the former Kohtla open-pit mine. On the day of our visit to the museum, it was impressive to see children jumping across the mountain-like, artificial landforms while jeeps carrying screaming schoolchildren drove through them. It was a surreal fusion of post-industrial landscape and a tourist attraction. Seeing the area transformed from an extraction site into a playground raised the question of what exactly had been repurposed here, and how the notion of transformation has been conveyed in the region.
+'''Process, Methods, Findings'''
-'''Technical Description'''
+Drawing on Walter Benjamin's concept of mechanical reproduction and its relation to historical distance, I used analogue tools to materialize temporal friction. The use of expired KODAK T-MAX 400 120 mm film (expired on 06/1991, coinciding with Estonia's regained sovereignty) produced grainy, slightly opaque images because of their reduced light sensitivity, while the paired panoramic pinhole camera created a decentralized depth of field. The derived materiality of the expired films and the paired camera mechanism serve as main mediators in this exploration, creating images that embody the notion of proxy. These mediations, combined with the political transformation since 1991 as realized partially through landscape repurposing, offer an alternative sense of 'transformation' that goes beyond mere visual documentation. The photographs simulate 'history' rather than depict it; their archival aesthetics imply a romanticized, nostalgic distance that softens and obscures the difficulties of contemporary realities. They resonate with the recreation-oriented transformation of the land by creating a comforting, safe distance — the mountainous piles of waste rock are presented as an intriguing playground, encouraging visitors to view post-industrial landscapes as leisure destinations rather than sites of past extraction. Such aesthetic distances are not mere visual relief; they actively operate as proxies. Both image and transformed landscape replace potential doubts, disagreement, or even confrontation with curated, palatable forms, effectively aestheticizing historical and environmental violence and veiling the complexities of the transformation.
-. Field recording and related sonic methods
-* Sound collection using ambisonic or binaural microphones (still undecided, currently testing both)
+'''Project'''
-* Preparing and experimenting with additional devices such as a DIY hydrophone and a contact microphone
-. Limestone: sample collecting and documentation (photography/video)
+scanned 120mm film negatives (expired in 06/1991) with digitally positive conversion, from selected locations in the former Kohtla-Nõmme open-pit (Ida-Viru maakond, Estonia).
-Although oil shale is the central focus of the BIP project, I am particularly interested in limestone. I am currently working with limestones from two other countries and would like to collect local limestone samples for further analysis and comparison. I am also intrigued by the spatial distribution and cross-sectional view between oil shale and limestone layers. If there are accessible sites or samples where these transitions are visible, it would be extremely valuable for my research.
+'''Reference'''
-'''References'''
+Azoulay, Ariella Aïsha. ''The Civil Contract of Photography''. New York: Zone Books, 2008.
-* Augoyard, Jean-François & Torgue, Henry. (2006). ''Sonic Experience: A Guide to Everyday Sounds''. McGill-Queen's University Press.
+Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Translated by Harry Zohn. In ''Illuminations'', 217–252. New York: Schocken Books, 1968.
-* Cardiff, Janet & Miller, Georges Bures. (2005). ''The Walk Book''. Edited by Mirjam Schaub. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König.
-* Cox, Christoph. (2017). “Sonic Thought.” In Bernd Herzogenrath (Ed.), ''Sonic Thinking: A Media Philosophical Approach'' (pp. 99–110). Bloomsbury Academic.
+Mildeberg, Saara. “''A Post-Industrial ‘Adventure Land?’ Challenges for Cultural Tourism Development in the Estonian Oil Shale Region”'', 2024
-* Pasolini, Pier Paolo. (1976). “The Cinema of Poetry.” In Bill Nichols (Ed.), ''Movies and Methods'', Vol. 1, pp. 542–558. University of California Press.
-* Schulze, Holger. (2020). ''Sonic Fiction''. Bloomsbury Academic.
+Steyerl, Hito. “''Proxy Politics: Signal and Noise.''” ''e-flux Journal'', no. 60 (2014). <nowiki>https://www.e-flux.com/journal/60/61045/proxy-politics-signal-and-noise/</nowiki>
-* Warburg, Aby. (1938/1939). “A Lecture on Serpent Ritual.” ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', 2, pp. 277–292.
-* Wulf, Andrea. (2015). ''The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt''. John Murray.