Does a new Age of Darkness dawn when tacit knowledge disappears from the world?
”Tacit knowledge” is the term for expertise that extends beyond verbal and written information. It is transferred in encounters between people, in daily chores; methods and "recipes" are learned by watching and listening to another person, by imitation. Gestures, tools, time schedules become familiar this way and learning happens, little by little.
In the Pikisaari community, knowledge and skills were largely passed on by and through women. Men went to sea, to war or to the mainland for some extra earnings, while women remained on the island, generation after generation, ensuring the transmission of collective memory and skills.
Fire has ravaged many times Pikisaari, generated either by the enemy or by accident. The red color of my installation, which is situated above the ruins of the steam sawmill, refers not only to fire — deeply connected to local history —but also to future’s possible dangers.
Humankind has rediscovered fire. Once again. This time it is called Artificial Intelligence and it knows everything.
A bun recipe: let’s ask the machine! A query consumes natural resources and requires to cut down forests to build massive data centers. AI extends everywhere, it has the answers. We give it our personal information, confide it our feelings and our science, even our health data, carelessly.
Our fellow human being — the other one — has become a danger whom we no longer dare to touch or approach for help or advice.
What is the future of humanity if we no longer meet face-to-face and share? What happens when our personal memory has been outsourced in chips or satellites circling the earth? Our main resource is our memory. We are tiny drops in the river of humanity.
This text goes with my installation in Pikisaari, Oulu november 2026. The exhibition is part of an EU-project called "Art of Darkness"



