reverberation
@ KUVAN KEVÄT, KUVA/Tila Galery, Helsinki Finland, 2022
4-channel video installation (4x LED screens; Full HD)
Performative Installation (drum kit, fair carpet in royal blue, bricks made of ballistic gel colored)
Awarded with the Anita Snellman Grant “A work of art which needed to be made”
‚reverberation‘ consist of a 4- channel video installation and a performative installation which together deal with the performativity of materiality and the inhabited violence, symbolic power and gender/class struggle.
On a compositional and musical level which is presented in repetition, synchronicity, mirroring and jump cuts, ‚reverberation‘ explores the plasticity of materials, emotionality and their resistance to human control.
Furthermore, ‚reverberation‘ is a work on body memory, on what is left in human flesh, structure and architecture. My grandfather was a bricklayer. Actually I knew that, but the choice of working with bricks was not consciously directed by this family history. My mom mentioned it in a side sentence after I told her I am working with bricks. I felt very comfortable in working with bricks. I fell in love with the materiality, the fragility but firmness, the uniformity but difference, their heaviness but still light enough to carry. They left marks on my body, in shape of muscles formed by laboring them, blue spots, scratches and red color mark from their minerals. But they were gentle. My body new how to handle. From an artistic side, coming from choreography and performance, I enjoyed the resistance I had to work through. There was an interplay of control, being controlled and losing control (on both sides: bricks and performer).
I’ve got curious about the memory held by a material and picked up the footage for exploring my fascination further. The process of editing, the attempt to highlight the materiality of the bricks, to make the synthesis of the different bodies tangible brought me even closer to the material.
The performative installation consisting of drum set, and bricks made of ballistic gel, I examine the plasticity of bodies. The bricks become the human flesh. The human transforms into bricks. Ballistic Gel is a resemblance of human flesh. A material that imitates the density of the human flesh, used in police, military, forensic and medical context, to test and reconstruct the penetration of needles, bullets, knifes. They look innocent but embody violence and cruelty. The installation is accompanied by a sound piece, which is interrupting and disturbing the space of Mylly occasionally and surprisingly. The musical composition is based on editing methods used in the video installation and explores a possible sound of bullets in space.
The performance installation was performed by Henri Nikkilä
Thanks to Uniarts Helsinki and the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, Finland