ANTTI LAITINEN – BARK BOAT
2011-05-23Antti Laitinen latest performance entitled “Bark Boat”, is documented through a series of photographs and video.
On the 7th of August 2010 at 4am, a rudimentary and yet authentic sailboat was launched for the first time in the Finnish peninsula of Porkkala and was about to embark on its inaugural journey across the Gulf of Finland. At its command was a young and resilient journeyman who has made a name for himself through his adventurous-spirit and his ritualistic quests for achievement, and known by the name of Antti Laitinen.
This is the latest in a series of performances where Antti Laitinen embarks on a personal journey, pushing the boundaries of his physical endurance and braving the natural elements, to engage with the world in a collective mission to stage mythologies and erase the boundary between success and failure. As in most of his previous projects, “Bark Boat” originates from classical Finnish tales and cultural imagery – in this instance, the title is taken from a Finnish childhood game whereby pieces of tree bark are used as rafts and are set sailing onto the vast sea until they disappear out of sight. The children would imagine their miniature boats sailing all the way to faraway lands.
Opposite – Bark Boat V, 2010
Exhibition runs through to June 19th, 2011
Nettie Horn
25b Vyner St
London
E2 9DG
