Auto-sym-poiesis in Heini Aho’s Installations: Re-thinking the Agency of Natural Forces

Abstract

<p>This article focuses on Heini Aho’s two site-specific installations, A Poem by a Plumber (2021) and<br>Thirsty Giant (2017), which enable natural forces, such as wind, sun, and rain, to become co-<br>creators of the artworks. Both installations are situated in relatively remote places where<br>creative dialogues can emerge with natural forces and the given physical environment. The artist<br>intentionally created what can be called semi-stable constructions for both of the works to make<br>visible and sensible the agency of natural forces and to explore how the human and “more-than-<br>human” agencies are creatively entangled in reciprocal relations. Thus, each installation unfolds<br>in an open-ended and autopoietic (self-creative) way as they entangle with the environment in a<br>sympoietic (co-creative) manner. Instead of mutually opposing aspects, I understand the<br>autopoiesis and sympoiesis as two sides of the very same event. To highlight this understanding,<br>I employ the combined term “auto-sym-poiesis” to study Aho’s works in this article. I argue that<br>agencies in nature and art are not isolated from the environment or each other. Instead, they are<br>creatively entangled in an indeterminate, continuously unfolding process of relationality.<br></p>