Meri Hallenberg
A Shallow Nesting Depression on a Gravelly Mound
27.8.-20.9.2026
The exhibition takes as its starting point observations of animals already classified as extinct. People hiking in the mountains of Tasmania have reported seeing the tracks of the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), while in Japan attempts are being made to record the howls of the Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax), even though scientists have declared both species extinct. The exhibition also examines the human perspective on imagining animals more broadly: what drives people to see animals that, according to scientific knowledge, should no longer exist. In the midst of the ongoing sixth mass extinction, longing, uncertainty and guilt are replaced by a utopian need to believe that somewhere out there, in so-called “untouched nature”, there are still new things to discover or places where extinct animals have escaped.
The animals depicted in the paintings avoid the human gaze, leaving the observations of them incomplete. The anatomical ceramic models present the essence of the animals through the traces they have left behind. While the paintings depict the mass, color and shape of the animals, the ceramics record the traces they leave behind: not much else can be observed of an animal that avoids humans, unless it can be captured and brought within reach of scientific measuring instruments.
Meri Hallenberg is a Helsinki-based visual artist working with painting, sculpture and moving image. Her works explore change and the passage of time, with the scale of time stretching into geological dimensions. Currently, she approaches these themes through other species, drawing on zoology and interdisciplinary animal studies.
Hallenberg graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts in December 2024. Prior to her master’s studies, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts (2022) and undertook four years of painting studies at the Free Art School (2015–2019).
Contact details
www.merihallenberg.com
hallenbergmeri (at) gmail.com
Instagram: @metuusa
