STILL LIVES – KIIREHESSÄ LIIKKUMATOIN

Format: Three-channel video installation (3xHD, 2.39∶1), Surround sound
Duration: 6min 6sec (looping)
Technique: stop motion animation
Language: Japanese, Arabic, German, French, English and Finnish
Music / Sound Design / Technical Supervisor: Jani Lehto

Nowadays people are constantly busy and on the move. At the same time we have never been so still. Sitting in a car or on a plane and if we are doing any physical exercises it’s often in a gym in one place. In the three-channel video installation Still Lives , the concept of busy stillness is explored from various standpoints as museum artefacts from all around the world reflect on the mundane challenges of modern life.

A couple on an antique bridal box breaks up turning into tinder, an ancient statue in a glass showcase grows tired of hearing about the dynamic potential of shared workspaces, and the runner on a clay jar is stuck in a never-ending workout session. Traditional figurines from folk art from various times and places form a unified visual language that is identifiable to us all regardless of our cultural background. Accompanied by a soundtrack of narrators facing the pressures of everyday life from love, loneliness, inadequacy to the fear of getting old.

exhibited at:
Muu Galleria, Helsinki, Finland
Gallery Rajatila, Tampere, Finland
Turku Art Museum, Turku, Finland

Memory Trace

An Interactive installation where the portraits of the visitors are being captured as part of an ever changing and looping memory trace. The artist wants to explore the relationship between memories and reality, and also the instability of the individual experiences.

The Visitor presses her/his face into the pinscreen pillow which is part of a vertical bed full of nails. Camera captures the visitors portrait. During the exhibition these portrays create an ever changing and looping memory trace. The Mechanism erases these traces leaving just an imperfect digital figure inside the picture frame. Important memories can not be erased from our minds. The artist wants to explore the relationship between memories and reality, and also the instability of the individual experiences. This nail technique pays homage to animation directors Alexandre Alexïeff and Claire Parker who invented it in 1930’s.

exhibited at:
Gallery Huuto, Helsinki, Finland
Logomo artspace, Turku, Finland
PÖFF, Tallinn, Estonia
BCU Parkside, Birmingham, UK
Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, Russia