Immortal’s Birthday (2017–2020) pursues the human place in the continuum of existence and ageing and examines practical and metaphysical questions raised by hydra all the way from the 1700s to this day. The work combines Greek myths, spirituality, technology, scientific research, and the Hydra.

Hydra vulgaris is a small fresh-water polyp that does not age – at all.
In addition, hydra can regenerate itself from a small cluster of cells.

The exhibition is a collaboration with Canadian composer and performer Charles Quevillon and consists of videos, installations, photographs and a sound sculpture. The work premiered at Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland in June of 2020. Immortal’s Birthday is a multi-part piece, and the presentation varies. The exhibition includes an artbook Immortal. Lost Memoirs of Cornelia Dulac Concerning the Freshwater Polyp Hydra (Aalto Arts Books, 2020) created by Maija Tammi and Ville Tietäväinen.

The fist exhibition in 2020 also featured Lucia Longhi’s essay “..outside the restrictions of time”.

Exhibitions:
Imagine Another Perspective, Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung, Berlin, Germany, 2024
Vasli Souza gallery, Oslo, Norway, April–May, 2024
ZKM / Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany (Party Animal), 2022.
Holy Fluff, Supermarket Art Fair with gallery Sculptor, Stockholm, Sweden, (Unheroic Labours #2), 2022
Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia, 2020.
Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland, 2020.

Film festivals (The Problem of the Hydra):
Minimalen Short Film Festival, Trondheim, Norway, 2023
AFO, International Festival of Science Documentary films, Olomouc, Czech Republic. 2022
REGARD – Saguenay International Short Film Festival, Canada, 2022.
Festival Tous Courts, Aix-en-Provence, France, 2021
Les Ecrans Documentaires, Arcueil, France, 2021.
Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Kassel, Germany, 2021.
Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival, Brazil, 2021.
Imagine Science Film Festival, New York City, USA, 2021.
Nordisk Panorama, Malmö, Sweden, 2021.
Helsinki International Film Festival, Helsinki, Finland, 2021.
Sarajevo Film Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2021.
THIS IS SHORT, European Short Film Network, 2021.
Hot Docs 2021, Toronto, Canada, 2021.
DocPoint 2021, Helsinki, Finland, 2021.
Unheroic Labours #2 at Ouroboros, Finnish Institute in Estonia’s film program, Tallinn, Estonia, 2021.

Maija Tammi and Charles Quevillon: Relic, 2020. Jelly cake, wooden box, light, fabric, transducer speaker and subwoofer. Photograph by Miikka Pirinen.

Party Animal at ZKM / Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany, 2022.
Party Animal, 2020. Archival pigment print, 110 × 120 cm, framed.
(Installation image) The Problem of the Hydra HD 1080p, color, sound, 9 min, 40 sec., 2017–2020.
Sound design by Charles Quevillon. Voice by Ava Grayson.
Immortal’s Birthday at Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland, June 17 – July 12, 2020. Photograph by Miikka Pirinen.
Immortal’s Birthday, 2020. Archival pigment print, framed, 129 × 115 cm.
Mount Olympus, 2020 Archival pigment print, framed, 123 × 83 cm.
Volunteers 1,2 and 4, 2017–2020.
Dead hydra, microscopic slides, covers, parafilm and nail polish.
(still image) Charles Quevillon and Maija Tammi: Unheroic Labours #2, 2020. HD 1080p. colour, sound, 11 min 9 sec.
(still image) Charles Quevillon and Maija Tammi: Unheroic Labours #2, 2020. HD 1080p. colour, sound, 11 min 9 sec.
Book Immortal by Maija Tammi and Ville Tietäväinen at Forum Box. Photograph by Miikka Pirinen.

The research of the artwork was graciously helped by Daniel E. Martinez, professor of biology at Pomona College, and Robert B. Silver, professor of biology at the Syracuse University.