Raimo Saarinen (b. 1984) is a visual artist whose spatial and site-specific oeuvre addresses the relationship between humans and plants, most often on the level of personal experiences.
Saarinen looks at how people’s life-worlds and experiences are affected and shaped by culturally transmitted conceptions of nature. He focuses on how the formation of Westernized conceptions of nature impact the environment, as well as how these ways of looking at nature shape possible futures. With his art, Saarinen wants to invite the whole body into a form of active listening.
Photo: HAM/Sonja Hyytiäinen
Raimo Saarinen: Invasive Scent, 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen
Invasive Scent, 2025
Artwork location: Vallisaari Island
Invasive Scent is a new installation centred on scent and olfaction, a critical faculty enabling humans and other animals to pick up information about their surroundings. The piece is designed around volatile organic compounds released by plants to attract pollinators, defend against insects and parasites, and serve as signals to neighbour species. Scents are also important bioindicators communicating information about changes in the environment.
In three locations on Vallisaari Island, the installation mixes the fragrances of the island’s original, endangered species with the scents of non-native plants. The aromas waft invisibly into the surroundings from their concealed stashes in hollow tree trunks. The multi-dimensional environment of Vallisaari Island offers an ideal context for reflecting on species migration forced by climate change
and the distinction made between ‘native’ and ‘invasive’ species.
Engaging the sense of smell, hidden diffusers release the scents of three species that are not found on the island but could eventually adapt and become naturalized. The scents thus foreground the idea of ‘invasion’ as both a cultural and ecological concept. Changes in our olfactory environment raise questions around belonging and adaptation, highlighting the importance of scents in understanding environmental change.
“Invasive Scent explores the significance of scents as both sensory experiences and indicators of ecological change in a warming world. At the heart of the installation are scents as strong markers of environmental shifts and cultural narratives, highlighting the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Invasive Scent shows how the changing landscape is altering our olfactory environment as well as the way we perceive and comprehend the natural world.”
The artwork production is supported by Fundación Ernesto Ventós.