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Lotta Petronella: Oracle Reading

18.6 — Online
Tarot-kortteja pöydällä, kukkia

Materia Medica of Islands by Lotta Petronella, Sami Tallberg and Lau Nau is a durational, site-sensitive work. It holds within it an apothecary, a lamenting choir, nightly recordings of moths and a commemorative tribute to Ilma Lindgren who secured the freedom to roam and forage in Finland. This transdisciplinary artwork of healing, song, and ingestion interacts with the diverse inhabitants of Vallisaari Island. Through live events and performances the work invokes an oracle, a cosmology of the island.

Following the lunar month, the Oracle Reading can be experienced by 28 Helsinki Biennial visitors during June and July. Lotta Petronella will conduct a personal oracle reading using hand made night butterfly tarot and oracle cards, specifically made for Materia Medica of Islands. The guides are the moths and the night.

wings catching the light
documenting death
their last flight
becomes the oracle
threads dyed with lingonberries

a stitch a flutter, a witness
a voice

EVENT INFO

The reading and cards: Lotta Petronella
Assistant writer & researcher on moths tarot and oracle cards: Selina Oakes

The reading is done in English.

The readings are done during three days, which of two are online and one can be experienced on-sight at the Vallisaari island:

Sun 18.6. online and via email – register here.
Sun 2.7. at 12:00-14:30, at Vallisaari island in front of Lotta Petronella’s Apothecary (art work 21 on the map, Fire Shed) – register here.
Sun 16.7. online and via email – register here.

Register to the reading on the day you’d prefer to take part (from the link after the date). The first 9 to 10 participants will get a reading. You will get more detailed instructions via email.

The online reading will be done vie email. The on-sight reading takes maximum 15 minutes.

Read more about the artists and their work at Helsinki Biennial 2023.

Picture: Lotta Petronella: Asking the Island tarot. Herbarium Photographer: Jussi-Virkkumaa