Rewound trading legacies

Abstract

This thesis project comprises a single-channel essay film that explores the circulation and reconfiguration of industrial production, technology, and authority across spaces and histories, through multiple overlapping narratives that trace both dominant and minor histories and the conditions under which knowledge, visibility, and value are structured, mediated, and translated.

The film is created using Super 8 film (digitised), a digital camera, and a smartphone, with post-production and editing carried out digitally. It is presented as a digital projection with stereo speakers and a subwoofer in a black-box screening environment, with a wooden bench facing the screen that seats up to four viewers. The narrative takes shape in seven languages, with English subtitles provided throughout.

This written component complements the artistic practice by contextualising the essay film, reflecting on methods, and tracing connections between conceptual ideas and their presentation. Within this project, the essay film functions as the primary medium, while the written component acts both as support and critical reflection. It serves as an emancipatory tool to engage with hierarchies, reveal overlooked histories, and explore the structures through which knowledge, visibility, and value are organised, ensuring that both components inform and reinforce one another.

The work was exhibited at Kuva/Tila as part of Kuvan Kevät 2025, Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, from 17 May to 15 June 2025, offering viewers a comprehensive engagement with the artistic component through screenings.

The thesis project is supervised by Salla Tykkä, Professor in the Time and Space study area, and advised by Grégoire Rousseau and Jani Ruscica. The examiners are Maija Timonen and Nora Sternfeld.