At Hiekkalaiturintie 11, metal fences border what at first glance appears to be an deserted sand-filled square, an in-between space among buildings, playgrounds and parking lots. For hours, only a few people with dogs pass by. One of them comments that this is the best spot around for finding rabbit droppings.
Despite the site’s quiet nature, the land here has lived through a vibrant century. Once a forest-filled sandy seaside retreat, the site has transformed from being the heart of Vuosaari’s industrial sand operations to seeing a suburb built around it, to hosting a daycare center. Now, only some concrete debris and faded remnants of pavement still remind of the demolished daycare.
But if you spend long enough here, you may notice it’s not so quiet after all. Willowherbs, broadleaf plantains, and thale cresses push up through the sandy soil. The plants grow taller and taller as spring evolves, and the sand starts to bubble. We wonder what’s stirring beneath the sandy soil?
This work is the result of a shared journey. We decided early on to encounter Vuosaari and each other with openness and curiosity in a site-sensitive manner. Through hours spent together on tours around bays, forests and neighborhoods we learned about Vuosaari’s layered history that intrinsically led to sand and to Hiekkalaiturintie.
Our final work is a sandbox, a site of play, reflection, and projection. Overlapping video fragments cast onto the sand offer glimpses into our work-in-progress, which asks: what does sand want, what does it desire? How could you imagine sand in beaches, eskers, riverbeds, and sandboxes, not just as material, but as an entity of its own right?
Part of group exhibition Rapakivi Soundings at Villa Lill Kalvik 28.-29.5.2025.
The project was realised during Story Ecologies course by Lucy Davis, part of Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art MA studies at Aalto University.
Featured image by Patrick Mahr.