Thomas Hämén

Welwitschia Mirabilis is often referred to as “the toughest plant on earth” and usually grows in the Namib Desert where it can survive several years of extreme drought and for as long as 5000 years. In Thomas Hämén’s sculpture Still life 2020, the artist lets a plant of this species live inside an industrial machine that uses radiation, heat and moisture to accelerate the ageing of whatever is placed inside it. In many respects, this is a kind of time machine, that would quickly put an end to a human life. But the environment developed in the chamber, though accelerated, is nevertheless reminiscent of that of the Namib desert, and as such allows the plant to survive. While the artwork is installed at Välkommaskolan, the plant will travel 40 years into its own future. With the desertification that is the outcome of climate change, Welwitschian’s natural habitat is an example of what many landscapes will one day become. In the light of this, the work becomes both a still-life poem about the relative effects of time and an attempt to answer the burning question of whether life can thrive in a future world that we have already depleted.

Thomas Hämén (b. 1987, Luleå) is an artist based in Luleå and London.

Work

Still life 2020, 2020
Artificial ageing chamber, Welwitschia Mirabilis

Location

Välkommaskolan, Malmberget
21.11~14.2