subscribe to style file blog via RSSfinnish artists’ reindeer games at p.s. 1
June 2, 2008 2:12 pm
The works in “Arctic Hysteria: New Art From Finland,” now on view at New York’s P.S. 1, are marked by a dark, eccentric humor. Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen’s “Complaints Choir in Chicago” elevates griping into grandiose four-part harmony. Anni Rapinoja’s “couture” pieces feature shoes, coats, and hats made from reeds, pussy willows, and other leaves, mimicking patterns found in nature. One video, by Tea Mäkipää, presents the landscape from a camera affixed to a reindeer’s antlers (above), while the Pink Twins’ videos examine human perception through the use of digitally manipulated source material—like satellite pictures from NASA—and electronic music. “The sensibility is very informed, very reserved,” explained co-curator and P.S. 1 Director Alanna Heiss at the opening reception last night. “It’s beautiful and extraterrestrial.” We spoke with the Pink Twins’ Juha and Vesa Vehviläinen, who were in New York for the first time. “People look at patterns and images and say that this reminds them of something, which is central to the way our minds work,” Juha said. “We try to activate those connections.”
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