HeHe: Nuage Vert :: February 22-29, 2008; 5-10 pm :: Salmisaari, Helsinki - At the end of February, Nuage Vert (Green Cloud), a large-scale environmental installation by artist duo HeHe, will be visible in the skies above Ruoholahti in central Helsinki. Nuage Vert uses the chimney emissions of the Salmisaari power plant as a canvas for illumination. The installation consists of tracking, drawing and projecting a laser image onto the contour of vapour, adjusting its shape and size to the current levels of electricity consumption by the residents in Ruoholahti and neighbouring Lauttasaari. During the event, residents will be asked to consume less, to un-plug their electrical appliances to make the green cloud grow. The chimney and emission are an environmental sculpture and a community measuring tape, but there is an irony here: Nuage Vert aestheticises an icon of industrial pollution while seeking to draw the viewer’s critical attention to it. By becoming a sign of wonder, a spectacle, a terrible beauty, a space is opened up for the viewer.

HeHe, the duo Helen Evans (British) and Heiko Hansen (German), live and work in Paris and initially conceived the project in 2003. HeHe was recently commissioned to make Champs d’Ozone at the Centre Georges Pompidou’s anniversary exhibition Airs de Paris. Their interest in air is also apparent in their ‘Smoking Lamp’ installation, which coincided with the Europe wide ban on smoking in public space. Working in a variety of media and contemporary technologies, their work has been described as poetic and poignant, dealing with serious issues in a playful way. Their work engages with the design and interpretation of urban space and the relationship between individuals and their architectural and urban environment.

This first edition of Nuage Vert is presented by Pixelache festival of electronic subcultures and has been made possible with the generous support of the Cultural Office of Helsinki, the Ministry of Culture and Communication in France, Helsingin Energia, Foundation for Environmental Art, Sydväst Polytechnic, Centre Culturel Français in Helsinki, Helsinki International Artists residency Programme, Dodo Ry and Motiva Oy.