Exhibition opening: January 10 at 4 - 6 pm, Galleri Image

Galleri Image is proud to present the exhibition THREE KNOTS by the Finnish artist Antti Laitinen.

With a speed of three knots, approximately 6 km/h, the Finnish artist Antti Laitinen sailed from Finland to Estonia in 2010 in a homemade bark boat with sails. Laitinen, who had never sailed on his own before came to Estonia in good standing after twenty hours. Today he finds it difficult to explain how he managed the journey, because, as is often the case with Laitinen’s performances, the project ended as a success thanks to circumstances far beyond the artist's control.

The journey between Finland and Estonia were documented along the way and is shown under the title BARK BOAT in the exhibition THREE KNOTS along with the four recent video works TREE RECONSTRUCTION (2013), FOREST SQUARE (2013), VOYAGE (2008) and IT'S MY ISLAND (2007). 

The five works in the exhibition are based on long-term, physically demanding and rather absurd acts, which are carried out in close dialogue with nature and with Laitinen as the self-sacrificing protagonist. The works are symptomatic of Laitinen’s approach to himself as well as to art and his surroundings as he, like another Sisyphus, spends several hours of doing useless work or leaves his body sweating and suffering under endless physical exertion.

As with BARK BOAT it is the slow and more or less random movement from one place to another, which is the immediate basis for VOYAGE. Here Laitinen floats quietly through the water on a homemade flamingo raft, which looks just like a deserted island. But unlike BARK BOAT the goal is unknown or non-existent, and it is suggested that Laitinen intends to float around on this palm island forever, perhaps in a utopian desire to reach a state of absolute freedom?

The need to do away with social norms, rules and expectations is a recurring theme in Laitinen’s practice. In the work IT'S MY ISLAND the confrontation manifests itself as a concrete attempt to create a small self-contained piece of land that falls outside any idea of national affiliation.

Whereas Laitinen found himself on water in the making of BARK BOAT, VOYAGE and IT'S MY ISLAND, he went ashore to do his two latest works. Thus, in FOREST SQUARE Laitinen spends several hours clearing a large forest area, just to arrange the removed plants in a geometric pattern afterwards, rationally systematized in accordance with the object's type, texture and colour. It is the same 'irrational' logic that defines THREE RECONSTRUCTION where Laitinen traps and clover a tree just to put it back together again, now on a new location, in close agreement with the three’s original form.

The driving force behind Laitinens’ strange, half heroic, half reckless escapades, is a fundamental desire to challenge the notion of what is humanly possible and socially acceptable. With nature as both setting and prop, and by distorting everyday events in the direction of the absurd, he encourages a critical reflection on whether the way we live is the most desirable. 

Among other things he criticises the Finnish notion that the harder you work, the more you are worth. 
With humour and irony he challenges cultural practices and stereotypical ways of thinking and opens up for a new perspective on the actions we consider the most obvious.

Antti Laitinen was born in northern Finland in 1975. He completed his MA at The Finnish Art Academy of Fine Arts in 2004 after many years of photographic studies in Turku, Finland. His practices include performance, photography, video and installation. He has exhibited in several countries worldwide.

Laitinen represented Finland at the Venice Biennale in 2013 with two new works FOREST SQUARE and TREE RECONSTRUCTION.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published especially for this presentation.

Opening: Friday, January 10 at 4 – 6 pm. Esa Alanne, director of Finland´s Institute, Denmark will open this exhibition in company with the artist and team from Northern Photographic Centre.

Talk with Antti Laitinen and Alla Räisänen, director of Northern Photographic Centre (Q&A): Saturday, January 11 at 2 pm.

The exhibition is a collaboration between Galleri Image and Northern Photographic Centre.

The exhibition is supported by:
The Danish Arts Council, Finlands Kulturinstitut in Denmark and Frame Visual Art Finland.