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#1: Elina Brotherus - 26/01/2004 - 7.30pm Lecture by Elina Brotherus on her work. From the press: RIPPLING PAINTINGS ELINA BROTHERUS in KUNSTHALLE LOPHEM The Kunsthalle Lophem in Loppem-Zedelgem is one of the six centres for visual arts in Flanders that are anxiously waiting for the postman every morning: one of these days they might find a letter from the Flemish Ministry of Culture in their mailbox, informing them whether the subsidizing of their work will be continued or not. Kunsthalle Lophem is certainly not the least active of the six centres, on the contrary: for the last two years the merit of this institution has probably been the introduction of art from the Scandinavian countries, which as far as the use of new media concerns (video, photography, digital art, internet), have the jump on the rest of the world. Artists like Olafur Eliasson, Veli Granö or Elina Brotherus have in the mean time exhibited in renowned museums in London, Paris or New York, but first they could be seen in Loppem. At the moment the Kunsthalle is presenting two big video works of the Finnish Elina Brotherus, whose work was also shown in Attachment+, the exhibition for Brugge 2002. On the occasion of the same event she made an 'artist page' for Tijd-Cultuur in January 2002. The video 'Baigneurs' is shown simultaneously on three screens, with a different time interval. We see naked Finnish bathers (among whom Brotherus herself), in one of the many Finnish lakes or the sea. There's not much more to be seen than young people stepping into the water, diving, swimming, drying themselves, etc. But it happens amidst such pastoral grandeur; with so much calm and transcendence that you have the impression you are looking at a marine in motion. Slowly the viewer realises he's actually seeing an extreme variation of the bathing motif in five centuries of art history: from the bathing Hendrickje by Rembrandt to the bathing women by Renoir or Degas. The difference is that the bathers of Brotherus, when they want to, can disappear out of the water and the image, which provides them with an unexpected degree of independence and privacy. However, the core of Brotherus' work is through and through Nordic: the overwhelming nature and the water are barely touched or disturbed by the insignificant human being. The viewer is allowed to make associations, erotic or not (most bathers are young, beautiful and slim), although basically, this won't change the atmosphere of universal, rather stoical quietness. Spring The same atmosphere is to be noticed in the other work 'Spring', three videos made out of a moving train or car, projecting images of the passing landscapes of water and woods on just as many screens. No human beings can be seen. These too become moving paintings, although the speed makes them more fleeting than the 'baigneurs'. The work of Brotherus causes a mental purification, completely different from the photo and video installation of Erich Weiss, also on show in the Kunsthalle Lophem these days. In this photomontage of young, anonymous women in Tokyo, linked to a sound composition, Weiss seems to be chasing Mrs Right. The way in which Brotherus actually tries to escape the urban bustle is much more fascinating. Marc Ruyters (De Tijd - Wednesday 7 January 2004) Translated by Hilde Vincke |
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