Anna-Kaisa Koski - Research Profile

Anna-Kaisa Koski’s PhD dissertation in arts research studies contemporary art works from the perspective of different cultural relationships between humans and energy. Current fossil fuel dependencies that accelerate climate change are hard to break. These dependencies were accelerated after the industrial revolution, side by side with advancements in other fields in the westernized societies, such as developments in democracy, civil and human rights, as well as advocacy of the rights of workers, women and other marginalized groups. Often progress in a certain place or area has led to the exploitation of people and resources in another. In this research project, contemporary works of art open up new perspectives on fossil fuels and their use in ways that are intertwined with human imagination and emotions, the vulnerability of bodies and identities, and the magical nature of complex technological applications and techniques.