Äkkisyvä was an artistic collaboration between Clément Beraud and Minna Nurmi. We are mainly working with photography, video and installation through documentary/experimental approach.

Äkkisyvä was also an artistic residency, founded in 2017, that was organized in Suomenniemi (Finland). The residency welcomes artists widely from different disciplines of art.
The project is temporarely paused due to our personal works and duties in art field

The purpose of the residency is to create a collective platform for artistic work for French and Finnish artists, where encounters and border crossings between art forms, cultures and nature / human are encouraged. We are looking for artists who are interested in ecological approaches in art.

The artists selected to the residency worked and stayed in primitive cabins in the middle of the forest, without electricity or running water.
We want to encourage the artists to examine their personal perception of nature, find the link to the land, to the place and to the memory of the place.

The theme of the 1st edition (2017) was Antropocene.

We’re asking a small fee of 100€ to cover any extra expenses + a deposit of 200€, that will be returned after the residency. The artists take care of their own food expenses and we ask them to bring their own gears and tools that we can’t provide. Please note, that there is no separate studio for working, only the cabin and the surrounding nature.

The residency is organized in the East-Finland, in the village of Suomenniemi (50 km from Mikkeli). The artists are working and staying in primitive summer cottages (Mökki) surrounded by forest.
The Mökkis were constructed in the 60´s. The builder, Samuli Väärä (Minna’s grandfather) made them for his four children. He was also dreaming of a small island near by the cabins. He made this dream come true by transporting soil and creating the island in the water. He also planted trees on the island.
In the 2017 residency we officially renamed the island Samulisaari (Samuli island).

As a symbol of human hand/foot print, he made a knot on a little seedling of a pine tree. Now this tree has grown old and tall. Our logo depicts this story as we think human and nature should be thought as one.

There is no running water or electricity in the cabins. The water is brought by the crew in water tanks. Water for washing will be pumped from the lake and can be heated in the sauna. The lake water is drinkable after boiling (we use it for coffee etc.). The cabins are 7km away from the nearest village with grocery shop and pharmacy. There is no separate studio/ateljé- building for working. Internet can be really low in most of forests parts.

The cabins are furnished with a cosy livingroom, fireplace, bedroom and sauna. The lake is situated few steps from the cabin. We have rowing boats and bikes.
A dry-toilet is situated outside of the cabin. Basic tools such as hammers, axes, saws etc. are available at the cabins.
We also hope that the artists will take parts of the everyday tasks of a mökki like cleaning, doing dishes, wood cutting and reparation if needed.

Jokamiehen oikeudet / (every man rights): everybody is free to pick berries, mushrooms, flowers etc. from the forest. Cutting any trees or branches, making a fire etc. without permission is strictly forbidden!

Suomenniemi is situated 30 km from Ristiina, where you can visit Astuvansalmi, one of the biggest pre-historical cave paintings of Finland.

Äkkisyvä-residency is organized in the end of August/beginning of September.
Exhibition will be held after the residency in Helsinki, in September/October and in July in Suomenniemi.







Img: Pierre Mahieu 2017

ÄKKISYVÄ is Clément Beraud (1988) & Minna Nurmi (1987), two video artist from France & Finland working with experimental and documentary approach. We are living currently in Helsinki.

Clément is an artist born in Paris and based in Helsinki. His background is mainly in exhibition teams working as curator or scenograph/stage Manager with around ten years experience in galleries and museums. He writes critic for formatcourt.com and is part of the organization of the Format Court festival held in Paris every April in Studio des ursulines (5th arr.) . He is also a videomaker.

His website : www.clementberaud.com

Minna comes from the field of film culture and art research. She produces and program a film festival in Savonlinna (www.sinff.fi). After running a European film education project during two years, she is now, manager of the cinema Orion in Helsinki, Eerinkinkatu 15 (ww.cinemaorion.fi) . She works with video and film.

We speak fluently French, Finnish & English.



Img: Laurent Chmiel 2017