Lost Islands: Performative Expeditions at the End of the World

Abstract

The island is a microcosm of entangled ecologies, histories and technologies, which also can act as a proxy for probing larger contemporary issues haunting human culture. To engage with this premise, we address “Lost Islands”, a participatory performance project that was realized for the Helsinki Biennial 2021 on the island of Vallisaari. The project consists of a series of performative expeditions that explore the island’s entanglements with nature and the disappearance of geographies under infrastructure. By analyzing the site-specific methods of immersion and participation with the material and digital culture of the island, the authors theorize on how performance as a critical environmental narrative can reframe the submerged aspects of the island as a site of labor and energy.