Charting the Void

Shruti Jain, Zoë Robertson, Laura M. Saari

How do you trace an invisible line?  

In Charting the Void, we explore the relationship between information and the unknown and how we come to interpret the undefined environments all around us. In a journey that ranges from the ocean floor to the Andes Mountains, through vast skies and down to the nanoparticle scale, discover how experts in various disciplines (a maritime archaeologist, an artist-designer and a molecular biologist) interpret different kinds of information to map the many voids we encounter in our world.

Shruti Jain, from India, is a doctoral researcher in Molecular Biotechnology and Diagnostics at the University of Turku. Her research focuses on establishing effective screening and detection technology platforms for diseases. This involves the use of nanoparticle-based technologies for early detection. The concept enables the design of simple, fast and affordable tests that can be adapted for resource-poor settings. Her interests also lie in public engagement of science as well as development cooperation work, in which she is quite often involved. 

Zoë Robertson is a Finnish and Canadian artist-designer. In her creative work, she combines a background in journalism, creative writing and audio production to weave narratives into material artefacts. Thematically, her work engages with how identity and agency are moderated by space and language and, more recently, explores themes of memory, grief and legacy. Currently, she is based in Helsinki, Finland while enrolled in the Contemporary Design Master’s programme at Aalto University. Visit her website at www.zoerobertson.ca. 

Laura Maria Saari is a maritime archaeologist and doctoral researcher in Latin American Studies at the University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on dynamic shoreline contexts in Pre-Columbian South America, approaching landscapes and their uses over time with reference to climate change, resource use and regional connections. A beach-comber since her Australian childhood, Laura’s research interests lie in aquatic life-ways, shoreline ecosystems and the comparative analysis of archaeological collections and current datasets for the reconstruction of periodically and partially submerged landscapes.

Each year before the main event, ABOAGORA organises a Pre-symposium retreat for young scholars and artists. The sessions ”Sense and Absence”, ”Charting the Void” and ”Regenerative Void, and What Floats to the Shores” are all produced by ABOAGORA Pre-symposium alumni. These collaborations delving into the theme of Void were sparked with the launch of a Pre-symposium alumni network in 2022, building on the connections made during the retreats.
”Sense and Absence” and ”Charting the Void” (~30 mins each) will be held back to back, followed by a joint discussion and Q&A. Please note the schedule change: This session will start at 14:00!