Fertilization is a public artwork commissioned by the City of Oulu for the Environment Office of Oulu. The artwork resembles a huge wasps’ nest with its diameter of one meter, and I have made it by coating a ball-shaped form with the paper-like surface of wasps’ nests. I have used the common wasp's (Vespula vulgaris) nests, visually full of variety and subtle nuances. The material is taken from about a hundred different nests, which results in an exceptional richness of tones. The artwork is installed in the corner of a dimly lit stairway, onto the ceiling. The wasps usually build a nest under the eaves or to the attic, so the location of the “nest work” up on the corner is well justified.

Constructions built by animals usually look beautiful to the human eye, but aesthetics is an issue solely related to the human mind. The real beauty of these constructions lies in their unity with the animals' life and their dynamic yet balanced relation with the environment. The wasps collect building material for a nest from their surroundings by gnawing wooden surfaces. This way, the diverse colors of these surfaces are transferred to the range of colors of the nest. By its lines that resemble a drawing, the wasps’ nest literally takes in the color tones of its environment.

© Timo Heino, 2003