<< European countries compete in the song contest by voting for a group to represent them nationally. In 2006 the Finnish hard rock group named Lordi were nominated as contestants. It was a controversial choice since it had been years since Finland had won, and the expectations were not that high. In the end Lordi’s song Hard rock Hallelujah made Finland unite patriotically to support their group.
Eurovision Song Concert is what Anja Puntari’s new work of art is about. The artist, (born in Germany in 1979 and lives and works in Milan), works with visual perception. By downloading fragments of videos from Internet, or making videos herself, the artist’s intention is not only to analyze the images and the phenomenon we are surrounded by in our everyday life, but also to show this material from her point of view, trying to bring out the emotion that is held inside. The artist is firmly convinced that the visual is not only physical, but also emotional. When the eye encounters the vision, it not only responds objectively in recognizing, but also what is seen creates emotion. Her work is internal and external at the same time, and she moves from the making, to the perception of the work itself.
The way of the flag – 17 Lordi, Hard Rock Hallelujah is not only an event lived through the eyes of the artist, but also a piece that brings you to reflect on what patriotism is today and where we can find it. Finland is not that well known to be a patriotic country and the Eurovision Song Contest brought this sentiment to life. The way of the flag – 17 Lordi, Hard Rock Hallelujah is a piece that in its simplicity questions the patriotic sense, and its new connotations. The artist questions herself on how much an apolitical country of Finland, uses a musical event to show other countries their belief in the flag.
Anja Puntari, by reflecting on the visual, brings us in the middle of the music event, in which we are surrounded by people and flags. The passages of the Finnish flags on the screen bring together a composition that is very picturesque, almost a painting in motion. The accentuation is put on the sound, which renders the moving image disturbing. The sound recalls something deep and pounding, not a concert but a battle. In this way, the viewer falls into a world in which what is seen is not what is perceived. By recalling unidentified sounds and combining them with the “ways of the flag” the artist metaphorically symbolizes the profound contradiction of how our sense of appurtenance, and how our sense of being part of a nation has found a new expression and new context in our contemporaneity.
Gallerie Terre Rouge, Kufa, Luxembourg
work
series pippi, annika and linda
the way of the flag - 17, lordi hardrock hallelujah
“laulavat talot” (singing houses)