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Intimacy Project Puska Laur.jpg

Sometimes I wonder if he is a tree himself

Intimacy Project

2016/17

Installation with 3 videos

- Holding Hand

 Loop HD 13,05min

A splitted image, projected on a wall and on a free standing glass sheet. The glass screen is 2-sided. The text subtitled in English.

- Continuous Presence of Horizon

Loop HD 11min

Video projected on a roll of paper.

The 2-sided screen, a size of 3m x 1,5m.

- In Pairs

Loop HD 9,45min

Projected on a block of wood.

The installation contains 3 separate videos which are positioned in the space. All 3 screens can be seen simultaneously.

The installation aims to define an identity while bringing into light a question about subjectivity of an interpretation. 

 

Hands function as a symbol of an identity. Hands are deeply involved in our lives; with hands we work and communicate, by shaking hands we conceal agreements. Hand in hand we support each other, by pointing with a finger we give orders, and a helping hand makes us feel secure. 

I made detailed resin copies of my grandfathers hands. They are like gloves; hollow from inside, I can wear them on top of my hands. With his hands on mine I aim to define him; I try to be him, to imagine him and to know him. 

 

The Portrait - Holding Hand

The video Holding Hand is a portrait of my grandfather, and it forms a central element of the installation. 

The projection is split: one part of the image is seen on a wall, the other part hits a self-standing sheet of glass. The preceding shows a body, with no head, sitting on a chair whilst the latter one reveals close-ups of the hands. The hands on the video follow a story that is subtitled in English, in the bottom of the image moving from right to left. The same text can be heard in Finnish.

 

The Self-Portrait - In Pairs

In Pairs is a self-portrait projected vertical on a block in the space. The video contains a series of free blown glass domes, which all have a hot-worked self-portrait on their surface. The portraits are simple and clumsy line drawings, rather unidealistic. In the video I try the glass domes on my head; while trying to match with the drawn portrait of myself, my own features mix with the lines. A viewer sees two layers of me; my face defecting through a transparent glass and a line drawing of me.

 

The Presence - Continuous Presence of Horizon

Continuous Presence of Horizon is a video with slow movement. In this video a separation happens. Hot glass is stretched, placed on paper, and the paper starts burning slowly (or starts to burn slowly). Slow developing fire separates the top from the bottom. The change is nearly unnoticeable. The video is projected on a self-standing roll of paper, the same size as it was originally filmed. 

Even though there is an encounter of two materials, hot glass and paper, it is not aiming to become united like the other two videos. Next to the portrait and the self-portrait videos, the burning paper stands as a reminder of no matter how hard I try, I can never be my grandfather, or know him completely, and the outside view can never fully match with what is inside.

Intimacy Project Puska Laura.jpg
Intimacy Project, Puska Laura.jpg

Photo by Lisa-Marie Vlietstra

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