Research Catalogue

About this exposition

Ögontröst is one of the artistic components of my PhD research in Fine Art, where I explore whether infrared (IR) camera technology can foster a “cyborg perception” — a technologically enhanced vision that, by extending visual perception, may also expand what futures we are able to imagine. IR technology, which visualises electromagnetic radiation, wavelengths invisible to the human eye, has been refined for military applications, primarily for its capacity to detect body heat. In Ögontröst, I repurpose the IR vision through speculative fiction and feminist techno-critical approaches, exploring how it might be redirected toward sensibilities of care. The work is based on footage gathered at decommissioned military sites in the Nordic region, filmed at a macro scale with a focus on plants slowly reclaiming these spaces. The imagery shifts between two types of cameras: a thermal camera revealing the filmmaker’s body heat and the lingering traces of touch left on plants and concrete structures, and analogue near-infrared footage visualizing the chlorophyll in the plants. The analogue film is developed through organic processes using plants collected from the filming sites. The piece follows a protagonist searching for the medicinal plant ögontröst (eyebright), historically used to treat eye infections, as a remedy for eyes wounded by witnessing violence and ecological collapse in a hypermediated world.

type	research exposition
date	03/09/2025
last modified	02/10/2025
status	in progress
share status	public
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	CC BY-NC-ND
url	https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3845815/3845816

name	Eyebright – Suomenlinna
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video, video

name	Eyebright Sumelina Installation
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video, video

name	spiral - copy
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	referenses ögontröst
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	ögontröst4.jpeg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	22 copy.jpg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	30 copy.jpg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	ögontröst3.jpeg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Ögontröst9.jpeg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	40 copy.jpg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	26 kopiera copy.jpg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	38 copy.jpg
copyright	rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	35 copy.jpg
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Koi fisk rund.mov
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video

name	Koi fish_01_02_23_34
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	image

name	Landos öga_rund_gray.mov
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video

name	hand ögontröst värme.mov
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video

name	mun värme.mov
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video

name	hand fot värme.mov
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video

name	Military places
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	video

name	military_still
copyright	Rut Karin Zettergren
license	All rights reserved
usages	image

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Ögontröst (last edited: 2025)

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