AaltoSiilo opened its exhibition programme for Oulu European Capital of Culture 2026 with Bernd Nicolaisen: Residual Light, a luminous and atmospheric presentation of the Swiss artist’s long-term collaboration with Factum Arte and Factum Foundation.

For nearly a decade, Nicolaisen has worked closely with Factum to explore hidden landscapes — from the interior of glaciers to the shadowed strata of Australia’s Pilbara and the surfaces of comet 67P. His images are the result of fieldwork, scientific cooperation, and a meticulous digital-to-physical process that reveals intricate structures normally invisible to the human eye.

Residual Light (Restlicht) brought together this ongoing research through a focused selection of large-scale lightboxes (150 × 120 × 15 cm) and medium-format works (65.4 × 55.8 cm), each one suspended between abstraction and geological truth. The exhibition highlights a shared commitment to documenting fragile environments at a moment when they are undergoing rapid transformation.

Exhibition view of 'Bernd Nicolaisen: Restlicht', 26 February – 1 March 2026, AaltoSiilo, Oulu © Factum Foundation

Exhibition view of 'Bernd Nicolaisen: Restlicht', 26 February – 1 March 2026, AaltoSiilo, Oulu © Factum Foundation

This marked the first official exhibition at AaltoSiilo and coincided with the inauguration of the venue’s Ice Sauna by Seppo Mäkinen (Snowhow Oy), a new temporary addition to the restored industrial site. Once a sulphite cellulose silo, AaltoSiilo is being reactivated as a cultural, artistic and scientific hub — and Nicolaisen’s work opens the year with a clear statement of intent: precision, research, beauty, and material awareness.

Residual Light invited visitors to explore the fragile threshold between what remains and what is fading, mirroring AaltoSiilo’s own shift from industrial structure to cultural space. 

A collaboration between AaltoSiilo, Factum Foundation and Bernd Nicolaisen. This exhibition was made possible by Charlotte Skene Catling, Adam Lowe, Otto Lowe, Valentino Tignanelli and Oulu European Capital of Culture 2026.