The Rainbow's Treasure
Environmental work in Biowalley, Turku, 24 light poles with wind sculptures



Andersson was commissioned to make an environmental work for the new Biowalley in Turku, an area with facilities for companies working in the biotechnology field. The area is also open for citizens in Turku to use for recreation. In the middle of the field a small ditch is running through called Jaaninoja.

The Artwork was made in collaboration with Riia Ruokokoski who is planning the environment for the whole Biowalley. Her idea was to make “ fields”, structuring the space between the buildings, referring to the time when cereals were grown there. Jaaninoja was given an important role together with “oases” with different trees, where people can sit down and rest. Besides the ditch a bow shaped road is being built through the area.

The road’s bow shape together with the field idea and the biotechnology concept made Andersson’s thoughts go to the rainbow and the old tale about a treasure being hidden where the rainbow ends. To create a rainbow Andersson decided to use the 24 light poles planned to be built along the road. The poles are coloured in all the shades of a rainbow from light yellow to dark violet. On the top of each pole a sculpture is turning with the wind and in that way using low tech bio energy.

The sculptures picture a male and a female bio researcher who are juggling with cell membranes, mitochondria, viruses etc. As inspiration for these sculptures, drawn in vector graphics and computer cut in aluminium, Andersson used two friends of his, a married couple, one who does research in why cells are dying and the other what keeps them alive. This part of the work is finished.

The two other parts, which will be completed during the coming years, consist of two pedestrian bridges crossing Jaaninoja. The other will have a big spade shape through which you walk when you cross the bridge. The upper part of the spade has a light display and a sensor attached to it, which makes the display change according to the speed of the water floating in Jaaninoja. The spade is “stuck into the fields” and symbolizes the digging for the secret in the end of the rainbow, but also, of course, the research process which takes part in the Biowalley. The other bridge will get three hearts on top of each other. You can walk through the first, biggest heart. This is the treasure everybody is looking for; Love! pictures (20)

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