Guoda Šulskytė together with her mentor Indrė Umbrasaitė is developing an experiment called Windcatcher for Exhausted Winds, which investigates anthropogenic wind systems in urban environments that slow down natural air flow. During Guoda’s experiment in Helsinki residency, the team was invited to look for exhaustion vents and try to sense what happens at the meeting point of the exhausted air and the natural wind. Each participant in the experiment received a prepared questionnaire, which they could comfortably hang around their necks and fill out while walking and looking around. Participants used soap bubbles, a sound recorder and a camera to record the movement of the wind. Spreading out in the vast entrance space of the Redi shopping center, each one followed a different wind trajectory.

Guoda Šulskytė’s experiment at the Helsinki residency „Windcatcher for Exhausted Winds“. Pictures by Ikko Alaska

This search culminated in a meeting of all the researchers on the roof of a shopping mall, where, standing on the artificial grass carpet and surrounded by the roar of ventilation openings, the group created a choreography of exhausted winds together. Thinking about the sound, rhythm, and intensity of the artificial winds being blown out, the team adapted the corresponding movements and played imitative sounds. In response to them, the characters representing the real winds danced as well. This dance became an engaging form of reflecting on the automated devices surrounding us and the vibrations they constantly emit – sounds, smells, air currents, and speculating about what happens when they merge with the vortex of natural winds.

Guoda Šulskytė’s experiment at the Helsinki residency „Windcatcher for Exhausted Winds“. Pictures by Ikko Alaska