The work of Finnish artist Antti Laitinen contains a bittersweet notion of primal origins we can never return to. This takes the form of performances which are documented through photographs, videos or objects. His work culminates as modest or impermanent objects, or often only in his documentation - the records of his performances.
In 'Bare Necessities', Antti lived in the forest for four days without food, clothes or water and documented his experience. In Laitinen’s work, the ideals of going ‘back to nature’ are childish, but not naïve. He pushes his limits, physical and mental.
In 'It’s My Island' (2007), Laitinen builds his own island in the Baltic Sea by dragging two hundred sand bags into the water over a period of three months – using nothing but a spade, sand and sacks. Individually filling each of the bags with sand, Laitinen painstakingly drags each bag one by one into the sea, braving the harsh waves and conditions until the island starts to appear over the water. As with much of Laitinen's work, he documents the event with video.
Untitled (2004) consists of three stones that Laitinen found after digging with a spade first for seven minutes, then for seven hours, and finally for seven days.
This project contains the same attitude as his video documented performances - determination and consistency, but with an element of farce. Laitinen executes his projects with the solemnity that a child has at play.
He says of his work: “It is more important to struggle for your dreams than succeeding in them.”
This project contains the same attitude as his video documented performances - determination and consistency, but with an element of farce. Laitinen executes his projects with the solemnity that a child has at play.
He says of his work: “It is more important to struggle for your dreams than succeeding in them.”
