Moment of the wolf
installation, 2004


In pre-farming culture nature was everything. Nomads and gatherers respected their surroundings and environment. Food was a gift from forest or river, man and animals were part of the same cycle. For some reason this relationship changed. Nature became our enemy. Wolf is a metaphore for this transformation. In early hunting culture man tamed wolves, perhaps in the beginning they made co-operation, both benefitted from each others preys. In farming era wolves violated man made rules by killing domestic animals and children. In food production we specialized on grain and started living in tight villages, later in cities. Wolves were killed almost to extinction, until recent years when we again started to respect the wolf`s right to be part of our fauna. Right now we can find balance with  wolves in nature which we both share. It does not mean we should give all the rights to these beasts. It is a rational predator which hunts with least possible energy, no matter whether its pray is a mouse, deer or human child. We are predators too, but we should respect each others revire. All our acts in this universe are part of something we dont understand completely so far. We can use land and water, but we should maintain a balance, if not for ethical reasons, but as part of our self protection instinct.

The moment of the wolf- installation flows as a river by natural rotation. As a result of dozens of random reflections, composition and imagenary in the space practically never repeats itself. The result is a space with shifting boundaries, like liquid with no linear time, just changing present. In that sense it is like a painting, or a performance of running water or beams of light.

Osmo Rauhala,   2004