Call the Forest
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Call the Forest is an interactive installation made for a children's touring exhibition. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The installation was inspired by the rotary dials of old Swedish field telephones. By dialling a number (0-9), exhibition visitors can call the imaginary forest and trigger micro-events in the scenery. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Two people can operate the installation at the same time with two identical dials placed on top of large wood blocks. There are also plenty of pillows to sit on, which were made by my mother Pirjo using old textiles and knitting yarns. This photo is from our first exhibition at Children's Cultural Centre Aurora. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The installation fits also well in dark spaces such as the gallery of Annantalo Arts Centre, where Harri and I were testing the set up before the opening. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The exhibition also includes a small nature library with used and new books. A set of exercises related to the exhibition themes as well as workshop activities are also available. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Initial concept sketch for the installation. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The elements and characters of the installation were largely inspired by and made of objects found on the streets of Berlin. During spring 2020, the coronavirus pandemic made people stay a lot at home, and presumably clean more than usual, as lots of books, household items and other objects appeared on the streets. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

I cleaned all the found objects in our garden one sunny day, before starting to modify and dismantle them. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Wood sheet leftovers from our nearby hardware store served as the back plates for the forest elements. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

We also have all kinds of old materials at home, such as this set of screws and nuts, presumably from the DDR era. It is from our elderly neighbour Günter and turned out to be very useful for fastening the installation parts (without having to glue to them, so they can be detached easier later). / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Arduino Uno microcontroller board was used for reading out the dialled numbers. Here is a test set-up. Additional Arduino boards were used in the other installation elements for receiving the number signals and for controlling effects with light, sound and motion. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The central module of the installation is called Cell. It reads the dialled numbers and sends them to all the other installation elements, which then react accordingly. Power distribution (12V) takes also place via Cell. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Cell's segment display, which is inside a 'nucleus' from an old TV, shows each number shortly after it has been dialled. The green, small LEDs are from an old modem and indicate that the fuses haven't blown (yet). / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Each installation element represents a particular habitat and has a story of its own. This one is Boreal Forest. Like all elements, it contains two micro-scenes, which can be triggered by dialling numbers. In the first one, a pine starts to defend itself against a beetle attack (dial 8). In the second one vacuum heads are scanning their new, unknown environment nervously after they were thrown out of the cleaning closet (dial 4). / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The vacuum heads originate from abandoned Kobold vacuum cleaner parts. They were connected to a gear motor and got some leftover Neopixels as scanning lights. Their immediate surroundings contain crocheted bilberries and a beeping speaker hidden under router leftovers. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The pine is constructed out of an unidentified branch found in the nearby park and synthetic, green brush hairs. The attacking microcontroller-beetles are shielded Arduinos. During the attack, the pine secretes resin made out random yellow LEDs and a broken lightsaber makes alarm sounds. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

This element is called Bog and includes old Nokia phones, which hikers have dropped over the years into the peat moss. They've gone haywire from moisture and play ringtones out of tune when dialling 3. There are also sundews, which have cross-bred with old network cables and shimmer to lure small bugs (dial 6). / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

A closeup of the network cable sundews. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The colourful network cables were found in an electro-trash container and a fitting connector was found on the street, next to a shattered PC. The peat moss was knitted from yarn leftovers and the tiny bugs are our neighbour's, Günter's, old electronic components. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Making of the sunken Nokias. The phones are in fact my mother's old Nokia 5110 covers, which, like the vacuum heads, were animated with leftover Neopixels. Again, Arduino Uno was used to control the lights and sounds. Like all the other Arduinos used for controlling the effects, it has a DIY shield, which can be taken out and repaired/changed if needed. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

This is Soil and it contains a giant mushroom. Its subterranean part, mycelium, is made of optic fibres and starts to glow and crackle when 9 is dialled. The second scene (dial 2), introduces RM1-4685 ja RM1-4686, who originate from the paper feeder of a discarded laser printer and are being harassed by angry roundworms. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

A closeup of the two lost friends, RM1-4685 ja RM1-4686, seen through an old magnifying glass. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The small creatures of Soil were made from old electronic components, while the soil itself was crocheted from brown yarn scraps. The magnifying glass I found in our cellar and the mini-LED chain is from a broken magic wand found on the street. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The mushroom was inspired by a large, abandoned baby toy, part of which became the cap of the mushroom. The stipe is a found yellow plastic jar. It contains an old LED lamp connected to optic fibres, which were used in an experimental weaving project some years ago. There are also some Neopixels inside the cap, which represent larvae of small flies. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Oak Forest includes a sprouting acorn accompanied by a squirrel. When dialling 5, the sprout orients itself with sunlight and the squirrel suddenly remembers the lost treat. On the right side there is also a receiver bird with an elaborate telephone nest and two hungry chicks, which make a lot of noise when 1 is dialled. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

A closeup of the receiver bird's nest. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The receiver birds and their nest are made of outdated telephone items. The white phone used to be actually at my family's hallway when I was a teenager. The wings of the mama bird are from a broken aeroplane found in a nearby park and her eyes are from a set of colourful magnets. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The squirrel's body was made from a wooden tool, which makes it presumably easier to take boots off. This item was in a donation box and contained still a Deutsche Mark price tag. The squirrel's face is formed by a found remote control, which in fact makes him look like an owl. The oak leaves were crocheted using a pattern from In the Yarn Garden and the acorn was constructed from Japanese Gashapon capsules. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

Here, on the Cliffs, a diverse variety of lichens flourishes. Dialling 0 initiates spore release by the fungal partners in the form of a light show. If 7 is dialled, a frolic ball of the lichens starts on a white, rotating stage. Whether this UFO-shaped craft made out of a baby toy will fly into the space remains uncertain, but for sure the lichens are nor afraid of cosmic radiation. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

A closeup of the lichen, some of which cling on an old modem with their fungal filaments and remain to be identified as a species. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The Cliffs was the last element that I built, so it contains all sorts of items that were left over in the end. Especially the small parts like buttons were good for making lichen structures. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

The rotating lichen UFO belongs to the same baby toy from which the big mushroom was made. It needed a new motor, however, as the old one was broken. Included is also another partial children's toy, which plays a happy melody. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

In addition to the elements, which can be dialled, my partner Niklas made this cool prism lamp to bring some atmosphere to the scenery. The lamp module also includes an Arduino and a program, which rotates the prism occasionally if someone has recently dialled a number. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä

A close-up of the prism lamp. The dichroic prism originates from an old beamer, while the big LED lamp was found on the streets already few years ago. It has served us well on different occasions and is now a part of the installation for at least the next couple of years. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä