The Bug Rug is made by Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger. It is an outdoor sculpture that also functions as an insect hotel.
The Bug Rug is located in village of Västerretais in Korpo island, Turku archipelago (FI), and it is part of the Barefoot Path, which is an artist run environmental art exhibition focused on environmental and site-specific artworks. The work is placed on a rock at the edge of the field, from where it can be seen on the road passing by.
The model of the Bug Rug is the rya rug of Bitte Henriksson from Korpo. The wooden frame was made by Mikko Kostiainen, a carpenter from Korpo, who used local recycled wood to make it. The gaps in the wooden frame are filled with reeds, branches and pine cones collected from Korpo island. Old, local clay roof tiles have also been used for the Gustavian-style vertical stripes.
Bug Rug combines recycling, nature conservation and local craftsmanship. Its creators hope that the work made of untreated recycled wood will also be approved by the island’s insects. Time will tell what kind of residents will settle there. Decline in insect population is a serious problem, which is exacerbated by global warming. Without the pollination services provided by insects, other plant and animal species are also in trouble, including humans.
The Bug Rug series continued at the Helsinki Biennial 2025 (Shelter). Four new insect hotels were built in Helsinki’s Esplanade Park. This time, the textile patterns used were Finnish peasant rugs from the National Museum’s collections and Kurdish kelim rugs selected by Dzamil Kamanger from his home region. The wooden frames for the work were made by Jukola Industries from uncut timber. The filling materials were collected from around Finland: lake reeds from Santa Hamina, pine cones and aspen branches from Helsinki and Konnevesi, birch twigs, wood shavings and hollow bricks from Konnevesi, used flower pots from Helsinki and surplus roof tiles from Pori. Pupils from the Lapunmäki comprehensive school in Konnevesi helped to fill the insect hotels.
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Bug Rug brings together Finnish and Kurdish folk crafts. It also brings together human and insect cultures. All four insect hotels found a permanent home after the biennial. One was placed next to the microforest of the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, another in the meadow behind Kulturhus Björkboda on the island of Kimito, and the rest were returned to Konnevesi, where they were placed in the town square.
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One of the Bug Rug works was placed in the courtyard of the National Opera in Helsinki on September 22, 2025.
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One of the Bug Rug works was placed in the backyard of Kulturhus Björkboda on the island of Kemiönsaari on September 23, 2025.