Pasi Autio: State of Alert
The starting point for the exhibitions main work, State of Alert, was a psychological, vague sense of being in a constant state of alert. It stems from a feeling of insecurity, a feeling I currently seem to share with many others – whether on a personal, everyday level, due to the global political situation or concerning the survival of humanity in the midst of climate change.
When light illuminates something, it simultaneously highlights the surrounding darkness. This visual blind spot highlights the limited nature of knowledge and opens up the possibility to use your imagination. Will the light ultimately illuminate something meaningful or is its purpose merely to outline the darkness? Due to the rapid alternation of light and darkness, one cannot be sure of what they actually see and what is a figment of their imagination.
The natural sounds included in the work sometimes resemble the sounds of emergency vehicles, at times mixing with sounds produced by machines and humans, urban sounds. In the turbulent soundscape, repetitions and rhythms remind us of the life-sustaining pulse and create a sense of security and continuity.
The second video work in the exhibition, Feel the Heat, depicts a one-man disco in a forest at night, and theatmosphere is magnificent – the lights are flashing, birds are singing, dancing continues and time disappears. The atmosphere in the forest reaches its height and starts declining freely and uncontrollably. The night cannot go on forever and, in the morning, the surrounding reality is revealed.
The starting point for the Beaches photo series in the exhibition is a photograph I took in Iceland on the 5th of October, 1998. This photograph has been re-photographed over the past 27 years. In the new images the event of remembrance and the passage of time are manifested. The same image will look different when the sunlight hits it from a different direction and the shadows created by the environment cover the image differently. The passage of time is shown in two different ways: in the original image, the back-and-forth motion of the waves is stopped in hundredths of a second, while in the re-taken images, 9, then 7 and finally 11 years have elapsed.
The State of Alert exhibition has been supported by AVEK, Konstsamfundet and Svenska kulturfonden.
Thank you: Saku Koistinen and Tuomo Väänänen
Contact the artist: info@pasiautio.fi
Studio Mustanapa Kairatie 3, 96100 RovaniemiFree entrance