Observing Squirrels

Observe, collect, organize, pile up, open, see, hear and guess. The knowledge comes from the nature.

Sera Martikainen‘s film Oravahavaintoja is a study on knowledge and the methods of gathering information. Nature is one important source of information. This experimental film is made from selected material, scenes where nature is observed, perceived and studied. We try to contain and tame nature in a laboratory, organise it to sections we can understand and categorize. Still, something uncontrollable remains. In the audio track, a man recounts his mystical, almost spiritual rendezvous with a muster of storks.

Martikainen doesn’t offer explanations or conclusions, the images stand on their own. We do our own observations and interpretations, and we alone know the reasoning behind our conclusions. Knowing something is only the beginning of understanding it.