Pollen

Play and the historical urban milieu of Kallio enter into a dialogue with nature in Saara Ekström’s artwork Pollen. The work consists of a series of concrete sculptures that invite play in the schoolyard, a musical composition that acts as the signal for recess, and an piece indoors that explores forest nature. As part of the artwork, Ekström made a donation to the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation, which promotes the protection of primary forests. Ekström’s work encourages engagement with the environment and others through joy and curiosity and stands as a reminder of the significance of biodiversity and its essential role to all growth.

The forms of the schoolyard’s concrete sculptures are based on pollen grain images captured through a microscope. Ekström explains, “Pollen is considered the diamond of the plant world; despite its microscopic size, it is incredibly durable.” The school’s pollen diamonds were designed to encourage all kinds of play, and their earthy colours were inspired by the school building’s traditional hues. Lights resembling flower stems arch above the sculptures.

The recess signal raises awareness of other sounds than just those of the city and traffic. Created in collaboration with the composer Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen), the sound piece features the hum of bumblebees and singing of birds, for example. The sound brings a greeting from the meadows and forests to the neighbourhood.

Inside the school, the wonders of the forest are made visible in a work that takes old biology and botany illustrations as its starting point. Made on plywood, the piece combines image transfer and drawing, with the magic of the forest expanding into a diverse network that shelters inquisitive insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles.

Saara Ekström (b. 1965) is a multidisciplinary visual artist working with photography, film, text, and site-specific practices. She is interested in temporal layers and hidden realms. Ekström’s works bring together opposites such as culture and nature, the sacred and the profane. Ekström has made one other previous public artwork in Helsinki for Strömberg Primary School. Turku Main Library and the Tietotalo building of Tampere University also feature public artworks by Ekström.

The work belongs to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, which is managed and curated by HAM.