This year’s IHME Project, Swedish artist Henrik Håkansson’s THE BEETLE, gives a voice to Hylochares cruentatus, an endangered Beetle that only lives in Vantaa. The rest of the Festival programme offers new perspectives for dealing with this year’s theme: the increasingly torrid relationship between human beings and the environment.

25-26.5 The Culture Factory at Korjaamo will screen the film THE BEETLE, which makes it possible to get a real close-up view of the insect, which is less than one centimetre long, with slow motion shots from a high-speed camera. Mika Vainio’s soundtrack emphasises the beetle’s peculiar way of being, which is foreign to human existence.  Read more about the IHME Project >

Korjaamo’s two-day Festival programme extends the experience of the film by holding a discussion on the interface between art and ecology. On Friday 25 May THE BEETLE will be discussed by the artist and, among others, media researcher Professor Jussi Parikka, experimental film expert Filipa Ramos and Professor Jörg Heiser of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin. The programme also includes scientific speakers, such as Professor Jyrki Muono, who specialises in insects, and Finlandia prize-winner Juha Hurme, who will deliver the Festival’s tenth-anniversary celebration speech. IHME Marathon, which has proven itself very popular over the years, takes 2.5 hours to look at public art projects in which, besides humans, representatives of other species play a role. Read more about the festival’s talks programme >

Festival Saturday 26 May In Korjaamo, special consideration has been given to families with children: there are non-stop workshops where you can make your own insect mask or think about climate change through your memories of the weather. After the Korjaamo event, family-oriented events will continue in Myyrmäki, Vantaa, the place that Hylochares cruentatus calls home. Friday 1 June THE BEETLE will be shown at Kino Myyr, and on Sunday 3 June IHME will be at Louhela Jam. Read more about Myyrmäki IHME here >

As in previous years, the film and video art that works in Korjaamo reflect IHME’s themes: the boundaries between human and non-human beings, the separation between nature and culture, the state of the world and the future. All of the long films are receiving their Finnish premieres: the concept artist Lothar Baumgarten’s Der Ursprung der Nacht (1973-77) borrows from the mythology of the Brazilian Indians, Marie-José Burkin’s new release The Film (2017) also focusses on topical environmental issues, and Jan Švankmajer’s Insects (2018) rejects a realistic starting point to study the relationship between humans and insects through a surrealist lens. During the breaks in the discussion programmes, Korjaamo’s Corner Hall will host video works by Finnish artists that crystallize the festival themes. Read more about movie and video art that will be shown at the festival >

Both festival days will continue in the intimate atmosphere of the IHME clubs. The first evening will give  voice to species that are usually silent. Our familiar weeds: mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), northern dock (Rumex longifolius) and field thistle (Cirsium arvense) come together to form The Band of Weeds, which is defined by marginality. Saturday’s Club Programme will be announced nearer the time. Learn more about the music and food on offer >

Read more about the Festival timetable here >

25-26.5 Korjaamo: 2018 IHME Project, Henrik Håkansson’s film THE BEETLE, discussions, film and video art, festivals clubs, workshops. Korjaamo Bar & Kitchen will be open throughout the event.

27.5 IHME workshop Mätäjoki Armada: IHME and artist Antti Laitinen’s bark-boat workshop at Mätäjoki Festival in Kannelmäki, Helsinki.

3.6 Myyrmäki’s IHME: Programme for all the family at Louhela Jam in Jokiuoma Park, Vantaa