Finnish artist Iikka Haslo presents his rather pessimistic view about the outcomes of global warming and man's effects on nature. In his series “Museum of Nature,” Haslo presents viewers with a world in which nature has to be constantly protected. Using giant canopies and special housing, he shows that what's left of nature must be salvaged. That's not where it ends though. These last gems of nature are used as tourist attractions, with museums built around waterfalls, or roller coaster tracts running through wetlands.
Haslo says this about his work, “I visualize shelters, massive buildings where big ecosystems could be stored as at present. These massive building protect forests, lakes and rivers from pollution and what is more important from actions of man himself.” His works are created through a process of landscape photographs and the use of digital manipulation. A selection is being shown at the “Architecture of Fear” exhibit at Z33 in Hasselt, Belgium.
When we asked Iikka if he thought human beings could still do something to prevent the catastrophic events of global warming or if it's already too late, he replied: “I think global warming is a fact. Consequences of it could still be reduced. If will and deeds are there, instead of a big catastrophe, there could be a little smaller catastrophe. Something we could still live with.”
