Forest and Food Bioeconomy Scient­ists from Finland Present Research Concepts through Art in Tokyo

By Naomi Moriyama

A team of scient­ists from Finland held the “ASUMIA Science and Art Exhib­i­tion” in Tokyo

The ASUMIA Exhib­i­tion coincided with the BIOSYS North Karelia Inter­na­tional Growth Ecosystem’s visit to Japan in November 2024

The Ecosystem taskforce members travelled from Joensuu and Helsinki to Japan, filled with excite­ment and cutting-edge forest bioeconomy intel­li­gence for collab­or­ative discus­sions with forestry partners in Tokyo, Nagano and Hokkaido.

Most suitcases were packed with laptops loaded with polished present­a­tions, but some were packed with exhib­i­tion posters and objects, as well as food samples developed with North Karelian ingredi­ents for tasting by Japanese people. 

On November 11–12, 2024, Dr. Tuula Jyske, Associate Professor, Wood, Science & Wellbeing, Univer­sity of Helsinki and Senior Scientist, LUKE, and a group of scient­ists from Finland presented “ASUMIA Science and Art Exhib­i­tion for a More Sustain­able Life” in MIL GALLERY Jingumae MIL 2^nd, a ceiling to floor glass-windowed minim­alist event space on a back alley lined with hip lifestyle boutiques in the Omotes­ando neigh­bor­hood, one of Tokyo’s cultural epi-centers.

ASUMIA is the brainchild of Dr. Jyske and is an artistic expres­sion of her research “The influ­ence of the built envir­on­ment and the surrounding nature on perceived and psycho­physiolo­gical well-being”.

The poster explains: ASUMIA is a thought-provoking exhib­i­tion that combines elements of science and art to explore themes of wellbeing in built envir­on­ments. It illus­trates temporal and inter-organism connec­tions, highlighting ways in which it is possible to improve urban living through recip­rocal nurturing, symbi­otic relations, and through valuing mater­ials and all living creatures as part of the natural cycle where all living springs from. The exhib­i­tion showcases the Finnish nature-based innov­a­tions and invites visitors to immerse in nature of Finland. 

The show was an edition of the larger scale exhib­i­tion held in HELSINKI last Summer.

Dr. Jyske, who directed and produced ASUMIA, said, “When combining science and art, we not only reached the larger audience, but also learnt new perspect­ives on topics we work with, via multi­lat­eral collab­or­a­tion and interaction.”

Ms. Jessica Smith, one of the parti­cipants, travelled from Helsinki to explain her science-art works to visitors, and to assist Professor Jyske with the operation.

Dr. Susanne Heiska, Senior Scientist, Innov­a­tions & Co-creation, LUKE, and Dr. Jose Martin Ramos-Diaz, Senior Scient­ists, Food and Bioproducts, LUKE, set up their “Unique Food Products” project with newly developed food products, together with Ms. Taru Kariniemi, LUKE’s Labor­atory Engineer, like pasta and cereals utilizing ingredi­ents from North Karelia.  Some of the present­a­tion packages were custom made by a local wood packaging company, KOLO Design.

Dr. Heiska said, “Our research helps food companies to develop innov­ative food products that utilize local, high quality raw mater­ials. These products are not only tasty and healthy, but they also drive the needed and desired change of the whole food system towards sustainable.”

Mr. Russ Ackerman, US Sustain­ab­ility Marketing Lead for KPMG in New York, who was travel­ling through Japan with his son, Alexander Ackerman, manage­ment consultant also from New York, said, “ASUMIA was truly innov­ative! We were amazed at the wide range of one-of-a-kind exhibits. It was made all the better as the professors and scient­ists conducting the research guided us through the show person­ally. We highly recom­mend it.”

All Rights Reserved: Regional Council of North Karelia Photo Reiko Masutani 写真 升谷玲子

ASUMIA is part of a wider project complex, which examines built envir­on­ments, bio-based building and decor­a­tion mater­ials and their well-being effects. The research projects that inspired the exhib­i­tion include, for example, Nature Based Serenity Solutions funded by the Univer­sity of Helsinki and the LUONTEVA and BIOSYS projects imple­mented by the European Union at the Univer­sity of Helsinki and the Center for Natural Resources.

Tuula Jyske, Otso Kauniskangas, Naomi Moriyama, Noora Sandgren, Jonatan Snapir, Jessica Smith, Sasa Tkalcan, Julia Varis, Jutta Varis and Ninni Wester­holm have created works combining science and art for ASUMIA.

The BIOSYS North Karelia Inter­na­tional Growth Ecosystem is run by Natural Resources Insti­tute Finland / Luonnon­varakeskus as a project lead, the Regional Council of North Karelia Pohjois-Karjalan maakun­t­aliitto, Univer­sity of Eastern Finland and MKN Itä-Suomi | Rural Women´s Advisory Centre (RWAC) of Eastern Finland. The project is funded by Renewing and Competent Finland 2021–2027, EU Regional and Struc­tural Policy Programme’s Just Trans­ition Fund – JTF, and Regional Council of North Karelia.

For more inform­a­tion about ASUMIA, please contact Dr. Tuula Jyske [email protected]

For more inform­a­tion about the “Unique Food with North Karelia Ingredi­ents”, please contact Dr. Susanne Heiska [email protected] and Dr. Jose Martin Ramos-Diaz martin.ramosdiaz@luke.fi

For more inform­a­tion about BIOSYS Ecosystem, please contact Naomi Moriyama [email protected]