DATA, MATERIAL, REMAINS
Work created during two weeks of ArsBioarctica residencies at Kilpisjärvi, in April and June 2014.
A Day with Malla (text) 2014 HD video 4 min 25 sec.
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/a-day-with-malla-text/
Wrapped in a dark blue scarf I am standing on the ice on Lake Kilpis looking at Malla Fell for a day with two-hour intervals between 7 am and 9 pm on 7 April 2014. In the voice over I wonder how to be there with Malla.
Meeting Malla 2014 HD 10 min.
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/metting-malla/
Wrapped in a dark blue scarf I am standing on the ice on Lake Kilpis looking at Malla Fell on April 3 (2 pm – 8 pm) and April 4 2014 (8 am – 10 pm) with two-hour intervals.
A Day with Malla 1-2, 2014 HD 8 min. 10 sec. Two-channel installation
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/a-day-with-malla-1-2/
Part 1. Wrapped in a dark blue scarf I am standing on the ice on Lake Kilpis looking at Malla Fell on 7 April 2014 between 7 am and 9 pm with two-hour intervals.
Part 2. Malla Fell videoed on the same occasions.
Looking at Malla 2014 HD 9 min. 20 sec.
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/looking-at-malla/
With a dark blue scarf on my shoulders I am standing on the shore of Lake Kilpis looking at Malla Fell on June 5 2014 between 10 am and 10 pm with two-hour intervals.
Day and Nigth with Malla 1-2, 2014 HD 30 min 20 sec. Two-channel installation (here reduced quality for file size)
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/day-and-night-with-malla-1-2/
Part 1. Wrapped in a dark blue scarf I am sitting on a rock by Lake Kilpis looking at Malla Fell for a day and night between noon on June 7 and noon June 8 2014 with two-hour intervals.
Part 2. Malla Fell videoed on the same occasions.
Moment with Malla 1-2, 2014 HD 26 min 10 sec. Two-channel installation. (here reduced quality for file size)
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/moment-with-malla-1-2/
Part 1. Wrapped in a dark blue scarf I am sitting on a rock by Lake Kilpis looking at Malla Fell on June 6 2014 and then slowly disappearing from the image.
Part 2. I am slowly appearing in the image to sit on a rock by Lake Kilpis looking at Malla Fell on June 6 2014.
Looking at Malla in Mediaboxi at Gallery Forum Box 6.3.-29.3.2015.
Day and Night with Malla, video installation at Rock Body Exhibition, Thornlea University of Exeter, UK 8-9.9.2016.
Toistamiseen - Videoteoksia Harakan saarelta ja Kilpisjärveltä [Once Again - video works from Harakka Island and Lake Kilpis] in Muugallery, Helsinki 7.10-12.11.2017.
"Data, Material, Remains". In Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, Teija Löytönen & Mark Tesar (eds.) Disrupting Data in Qualitative Inquiry. Entanglements with the Post-Critical and Post-Anthropocentric. Peter Lang Publishing 2017,171-182.
"Agential cuts and performance as research". In Annette Arlander, Bruce Barton, Melanie Dreyer-Lude and Ben Spatz (eds.) Performance as Research: Knowledge, Methods, Impact. Routledge 2018, 133-151.
“Day and Night with Malla.” In Screenworks 8.2. Digital Ecologies and the Anthropocene, 2018 ISSN 2514-3123
See here: https://screenworks.org.uk/archive/digital-ecologies-and-the-anthropocene/day-and-night-with-malla
Arlander, Annette. Performing Landscape blog
“Malla – Mountain in the North” (blogpost 5.4. 2014)
http://annettearlander.com/2014/04/05/malla-mountain-in-the-north/
“Meeting Malla again” (blogpost 5.6. 2014) http://annettearlander.com/2014/06/05/meeting-malla-again/
ArsBioarctica Residency blog
https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts
Arlander, Annette
“Performing Landscape in Kilpisjärvi 1-15”
Blog posts archived and accessible here.
Original posts:
1. April 2, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-1
2. April 3, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-2
3. April 4, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-3
4. April 5, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-4
5. April 6, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-5
6. April 7, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-6
7. April 8, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-7
8. April 9, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-8
9. June 4, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-9
10. June 5, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-10
11. June 6, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-11
12. June 7, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-ladscape-in-kilpisjarvi-12
13. June 8, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-13
14. June 10, 2014 https://bioartsociety.fi/projects/ars-bioarctica/posts/performing-landscape-in-kilpisjarvi-14
15. June 13, 2014 http://www.kilpiscope.net/residency/?p=1653
Year of the Horse (Sitting on a Rock) 2003 DV 12 min 28 sec. Single channel video in two parts.
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/year-of-the-horse-sitting-on-a-rock/
Part 1. I am standing with a blue scarf on my shoulders close to the camera, obscuring part of the view from the cliff, on Harakka Island, 64 times, approximately once a week from January 2002 to January 2003.
Part 2. I am sitting with a blue scarf on my shoulders on a rock in the landscape below the cliff, 64 times, on the same occasions.
Voice over text in Finnish to Day with Malla (text)
Miten olla tässä Mallan kanssa? Miten vuorelle puhutaan, kysyi pilvi. Miten tunturia tervehditään, kysyn minä, ja ihmettelen miten ilmaista ihailunsa jättiläiselle. Malla tunturi seisoo Kilpisjärven pohjoisrannalla, Suomen peukalossa ja näyttää tyylikkäältä lumipeitteessään ja koivukarvoituksessaan. Näen sen edessäni jäällä seistessäni. Miten olla tässä kylmässä Mallan kanssa, jäällä, lumessa, taivasalla? Järven jää yhdistää meidät ja auttaa lähestymään, mutta mitä lähemmäs astun sen suuremmaksi Malla muuttuu. Vain etäältä voin edes kuvitella näkeväni sen kokonaan. Ja silti näen siitä vain yhden puolen. Entä jos se onkin vuorenpeikko, ja noituu minut jääpatsaaksi keskelle järveä, moottorikelkkailijoiden kompastuskiveksi. Tai jos se onkin vuoren haltija, joka esittää kolme arvoitusta ja musertaa minut irtolohkareen alle jos vastaan väärin. Tai jos se vain nukkuu eikä halua tulla häirityksi. –
Jos kaikki on liikkeessä Mallakin liikkuu, vaikkakin verkkaisesti. Mutta minne päin? Onko se hitaasti nousemassa jääkauden painon alta, vai pikemminkin valumassa alas pieninä palasina rinteitään pitkin? Näkeekö se toiseen suuntaan jäämerelle asti vai riittääkö järvi sille peiliksi? Nauttiiko se lumipyryistä ja usvasta ympärillään vai pitääkö enemmän kirkkaasta syvänsinisestä taivaasta ja häikäisevästä valosta? Tämä päiväni Mallan kanssa osuu kevättalven valoisaan aikaan. En osaa kuvitella miltä tuntuu kaamos tai ruska tai yötön yö, tai edes se kun jää järvestä sulaa. Ehkä Malla onkin kaunis vain talviturkissaan, ja sulautuu toisiin tuntureihin tai mäenkumpareisiin kun kesä koittaa. Mitä väliä sillä on nyt, sillä nyt se on kaunis, juuri nyt. Mallan kanssa opin mitä tarkoittaa nyt. Se tarkoittaa että hetkessä kaikki voi olla toisin, hetkessä pilvet täyttävät taivaan ja lumipyry peittää sen silmistäni, niin etten näe onko se vielä siinä vai ei. Tiedänhän minä ettei se katoa, jos katoaisi se ei olisi vuori, mutta pyryssä ja sumussa en voi sitä nähdä.
Miten olla tässä Mallan kanssa, seistä ja katsella, hengittää ja ihailla, ihmetellä tuulessa, palella pimenevässä illassa? Tulen tähän hetkeksi ja menen taas kohta pois, enkä tiedä miten olla tässä sen hetken kun olen. Palaan kuin rauhaton kelkkailija, omia jälkiäni. Silti minä pysyn samana, kun Malla muuttuu päivän mittaan, ja samalla koko Mallan maailma. Ehkä niin. Tai ehkä sittenkin päinvastoin. Minä olen se joka lähtee, ja Malla on se joka jää…
Year of the Horse – Calendar 1-2, 2015 HD 11 min 10 sec. Two-channel installation
http://www.av-arkki.fi/en/works/year-of-the-horse-calendar-1-2/
During the year of the horse 2014 I revisited once a month the site on Harakka Island, which I visited once a week during the year of the horse 2002,
wearing the same dark blue scarf.
Part 1: I stand on the hill in front of the camera, covering most of the view.
Part 2: I sit on a rock on the slope.
Voice over text to Day with Malla (text)
How to be here with Malla? How do you speak to a mountain, asked the cloud? How do you greet a fell, I ask, and wonder how to express one’s admiration to a giant? Malla Fell stands at the northern shore of Lake Kilpis, in the thumb of Finland, and looks elegant in its snow cover and birch hair. I see it in front of me standing on the ice. How to be here in the cold with Malla, on the ice, in the snow, under the open sky? The ice on the lake connects us and helps in approaching, but the closer I step, the greater Malla becomes. Only from afar can I even imagine seeing the whole of it. And still I see only one side. What if it is a mountain troll and conjures me into an ice statue in the middle of the lake, a stumbling block for snowmobile drivers. Or what if it is a mountain sprite, which presents me with three riddles, and crushes me with a boulder if I don’t know the correct answer. Or if it is merely sleeping and does not want to be disturbed. –
If everything is moving, then Malla is moving, too, albeit leisurely. But in what direction? Is it slowly rising after the weight of the ice age, or rather trickling down in small pieces along its slopes? Is it able to see the polar sea in the other direction, or does the lake suffice as its mirror? Does it enjoy the snowfall and the mist around is summit, or does it prefer the clear deep blue sky and the dazzling light?
My day with Malla occurs in the light days of springtime winter. I cannot image what the darkness feels like, or the nightless night, or the autumn, or even when the ice on the lake melts away. Perhaps Malla is beautiful only in its winter furs and melts in with the other fells and hills in summertime. What does it matter now, because now it is beautiful, right now. With Malla I learn what now really means. It means that everything can change in an instant, in an instant the clouds can fill the sky and a snowfall hides it from my sight, and I cannot see if it is still there or not. Of course I know it is there, if it disappeared it would not be a mountain, although I cannot see it in snow and mist.
How to be here with Malla, standing and watching, breathing and admiring, wondering in the wind, freezing in the darkening night? I come here for a moment and soon go away again, and do not know how to be here for the moment I am here. I return like a restless snowmobile driver, in my own traces. I remain the same, however, while Malla changes during the day, and the whole world of Malla as well. Maybe. Or perhaps rather the contrary. I am the one who leaves, and Malla is the one that stays…
