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Hanna Maria Anttila: “Via” (Läpi)
A video installation of two synchronized loops.
Stereo sound.
The Finnish title of my installation is: “Läpi”
This word translates in at least two ways:
1) To go through or via something.
2) An opening or an entrance (for example a hole in a fence or the neckline of a shirt).
The English title I chose for my installation is “Via”.
Moving pictures and sound are the elements of my installation-based
work. I am interested in how the two mediums can be used together to redefine
the experience of time, space, physical and psychological distance. I want my
work to have a clear formal structure and precise punctuation. At the same time
it should be sensual and seductive. It should have an emotional impact on the
viewer. I sculpt time and space in order to find new ways to represent:
1) The sheer impossibility of communicating over the distance between the rest of the world and myself;
2) the difficulty of truly understanding and loving someone;
3) the unavoidable loneliness, the ”just a little bit out of place”
feeling of my contemporary existence. I am in constant flux and without a permanent
stance, always on the way somewhere and in the process of leaving something
behind. When in New York I carry Helsinki in me. When in Helsinki I have a desire
to be somewhere else, with someone who is out of reach.
“Via” is an installation of two synchronized video
projections. Individual video tracks are projected onto two rear projection
screens. These screens are translucent (the images can be seen from both sides
of the screens) and suspended in the air. They seem to float inside the darkened
room.
1) An image of moving forwards is projected onto the right screen.
2) An image of moving away is projected onto the left screen.
The video and audio tracks are synchronized loops. “Via” is not
a narrative story with an arc. The opposing screens/viewpoints of “Via”
define a sculptural space. My goal is to achieve a sense of rupture; to create
an opening through which time and space flow. The speed of the movement varies,
slowing down to a complete stand still and accelerating to fast movement. The
footage was shot in Finland and New York. The pictures are of cityscapes, roads,
train tracks, views from cars, trams and train windows. I manipulate some of
the footage by flipping one side of the image horizontally. The viewer is attracted
to the symmetry without being able to figure out why.
I made a grid-like target for the video camera’s flip out screen. This let me align the vanishing point and the horizon line of the images, which gives a uniform vantage point to both of the screens.
Other formal techniques I work with are:
1) The interplay between the two screens (For example: the left screen shows
the headlights of a car. This light seems to reflect onto the image of the right
screen).
2) The color contrast and light diferences between the two screens (For example:
blue daylight vs. red/yellow artificial light of the night).
Sound is an informative and cohesive element in “Via”. I work with taped, long distance phone calls in addition to the synch sound of the video footage. The low-fi quality of the telephone-audio contrasts with sounds of New York and Helsinki (announcements on the subway, walking and whistling to a sad & imaginary song, footsteps in the snow). The audio track has a series of drama-like build-ups. These build-ups are coordinated with the motion of the image tracks.
The Helsinki City Art Museum has invited me to be one of the artists showing at the Kluuvi Gallery this year. I will use this opportunity to present “Via”. My solo exhibition is scheduled for December 2003.
Hanna Maria Anttila, May 2003 in New York City
contact information | all content copyright Hanna Maria Anttila 1996–2006