Axel Straschnoy is a visual artist from Buenos Aires, currently based in Helsinki. For Straschnoy, any object can be viewed as a work of art or a subject of scientific study, depending on personal interpretation, with a particular interest in expeditions of all kinds—both literal and metaphorical, scientific and artistic. His research emerges from these interpretative rituals and the opportunity to “dance” around objects, aiming to explore social practices within science and art through various media.
Straschnoy’s works, always part of larger research projects, span a wide range: from films for planetariums and performances to cinematic installations, editions, travelling exhibitions, museum collections, and VR films. Collaboration frequently plays a key role in his practice, as he is interested in alternative spaces and innovative ways to frame interactions between artworks and audiences. He founded the production company Kolme Perunaa to support his work.
Straschnoy has participated in Le Pavillon residency at Palais de Tokyo (2008-09) and studied Art History at the University of Buenos Aires.
Recent exhibitions include (Upcoming) Turku Art Museum, 2025; 18 Minutes from the Sun, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, 2023; Subterranean, Amos Rex, Helsinki, 2022; Nanocosmic Investigations, Inter Arts Center, Malmö, 2022; The Devils of Paasselkä, Forumbox, Helsinki, 2022; The Permian Extinction, the Turku Museum in Turku, 2021; Lights in the Landscape, the Pippulhalli Museum in Savonranta, 2021; Float, Andrée Polarcenter Grenna Museum, Gränna, 2019; Hoy, / ¡gran mañana!, / en los pinos soplan vientos / del pasado, Del Infinito Arte, Buenos Aires, 2016; Le rappel à l’ordre, Forum Box, Helsinki, 2016; Neomylodon Listai Ameghino, Inter Arts Center, Malmö, 2016; Neomylodon Listai Ameghino, Augusta Gallery, Helsinki, 2015; Neomylodon Listai Ameghino, Evolutionsmuseet, Uppsala, 2015; La Figure de la Terre, Museo del Cine, Buenos Aires, 2014; La Figure de la Terre, Del Infinito Arte, Buenos Aires, 2014; Kilpisjärvellä, Mirta Demare Gallery, Rotterdam, 2013; Opening Archive, Ateneum Museum Library, Helsinki, 2013.
Straschnoy was recently awarded the 2025 Fine Arts Academy of Finland Foundation Prize. As part of the award, he will present a solo exhibition at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art in 2026.
SELECTED WORKS
The Devils of Paasselkä
Axel Straschnoy’s film The Devils of Paasselkä (2020) investigates the mysterious and unknown aspects associated with the Paasselkä Lake in Eastern Finland. Formed by a meteorite collision that occurred at some moment in the last 1,900 million years, the lake renders compasses ineffective. Accounts of peculiar luminous phenomena hovering above it, exhibiting independent and rapid movements across different locations, have been recorded as early as the 1700s. Straschnoy’s film combines compelling images from the artist’s trip to the lake with interviews with local people to investigate these phenomena.
Axel Straschnoy, The Devils of Paasselkä (2020). One channel video, 20’, film still.
Axel Straschnoy, The Devils of Paasselkä (2020). One channel video, 20’, film still.
Axel Straschnoy, The Devils of Paasselkä (2020). One channel video, 20’, film still.
Axel Straschnoy, The Devils of Paasselkä (2020). One channel video, 20’, film still.
Axel Straschnoy, The Devils of Paasselkä (2020). One channel video, 20’, film still.
Axel Straschnoy, The Devils of Paasselkä (2020). One channel video, 20’, film still.
The Source
The Source is a collaborative art and science project by Axel Straschnoy and Iain Sutton, being developed at the European Spallation Source (ESS) between 2021 and 2026. Blending drawing, photography, neutron activation, public presentations, residencies, and guest visits to nuclear research facilities, the project aims to create a portrait of the world’s most powerful neutron source.
Straschnoy and Sutton set out to pioneer a new form of photography—one that replaces photons with neutrons and silver halides with gold atoms—to reveal the invisible processes that shape our understanding of the world.
The ESS is poised to become the most powerful accelerator-driven neutron source ever built. It will generate revolutionary images and data, yet much of this work takes place deep underground, beyond the reach of sight. This creates a paradox: a setting that appears still, yet contains the concentrated energy to drive profound scientific transformations.
What does it mean to see in such conditions? What hidden structures support and frame these experiments? Could a facility like this be pushed to its conceptual limits—to create a self-portrait, capturing its essence in a plate of gold?
The final piece of The Source will be a gold-foiled plate irradiated on the ESS beamline. This plate will contain a portrait of the ESS rendered in radiation, invisible to the eye. When exposed to photographic paper, the irradiated gold will produce a visible imprint—an image encoded in radiation, translated into light.
Driven by research, the project evolves continuously. Its final work is accompanied by an expanding constellation of outcomes, which take shape in various forms and contexts over time.
The Source was initiated during Nanocosmic Investigations, an EU-funded residency organised by Malmö Museer, Inter Arts Center, and ESS in 2021–2022.
Axel Straschnoy, Exposure chart 2024.
Axel Straschnoy, HP5 400 Gamma.
Axel Straschnoy, Sensitive plate sketch.
Axel Straschnoy, TENIS Photo Paper Gamma.
Axel Straschnoy, THALES Gafchromic 24h.
THE FINNISH ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY
The Finnish Astronautical Society is a project exploring the history and ongoing evolution of Finland’s Space Programme. It highlights the country’s leading astronautics organization, established in 1959 by a group of schoolboys inspired by the space race. Driven by passion, technical ingenuity, and minimal resources, they pursued their dream of building Finland’s first rocket. Though their envisioned rocket was never completed, the society remains a hub for aspiring rocketeers to experiment and tackle the complexities of space flight.
Each piece in the series comprises a rocket designed and launched by the artist, a photograph capturing the moment of liftoff, and a certificate of authenticity.
Axel Straschnoy, Kolme Perunaa Space CVII, launch
Axel Straschnoy, Kolme Perunaa Space CVII
Axel Straschnoy, Kolme Perunaa Space CVIII
Axel Straschnoy, Kolme Perunaa Space CVIII, launch
109. Kolme Perunaa Space CIX – Launch 10 copy
Axel Straschnoy, Kolme Perunaa Space CIX, launch
Axel Straschnoy, Kolme Perunaa Space CIX