BJÖRN AHO
Veli – Bror – Brother
2004 / 8`32”/ STEREO/16/9
9.–31.10.2004
The work investigates the relationship and communication between two men, and the impact of the environment on people’s self-image. The video is set in a small suburban wood, where a stage is constructed made up of columns. Most of the interaction between the two men takes place through gestures and a football rather than words. The men are intentionally stiff and slow in their movements, emphasising the video’s sense of alienation. Events progress to a point where the men destroy the set, thereby deconstructing the fiction on two levels: breaking the cinematic illusion, and revealing the fictitious nature of the place defined by the constructed environment.
VELI-B ROR-BROTHER DV cam 8,20 min
Synopsis
VELI-B ROR-BROTHER DV cam 8,20 min
BJÖRN AHO
Teos on poeettinen kuvaus kahden miehen välisestä suhteesta ja siitä, miten ympäristö vaikuttaa ihmisen minäkuvaan.
Video kuvaa miesten välistä kommunikaatiota. Miehet lausuvat vain muutamia vuorosanoja. Pääosa vuorovaikutuksesta tapahtuu liikkeiden ja jalkapallon välityksellä. Miehet liikkuvat tahallisen jäykästi ja hitaasti. Tällä on tarkoitus korostaa vieraantuneisuuden tunnetta -sekä miesten välillä että katsojassa.
Videon tapahtumapaikka on pieni metsikkö kaupunkilähiössä. Näyttämönä toimii metsässä sijaitseva vanha pylväikkö, johon on rakennettu lavasteinstallaatio.
Miesten väliset tapahtumat etenevät lavasteiden hajottamiseen ja sitä kautta fiktion purkamiseen. Fiktiolla en tarkoita tässä yhteydessä pelkästään elokuvallista illuusiota vaan myös rakennetun ympäristön määrittelemää paikan fiktiota.
Björn Aho
Comments
25.10-11.11 2004
“I have been thinking what kind of a space would be big enough and strong enough to save ones life.
I have made a block in cement.
It might function as the basement for a small construction. It might be a part of a larger whole as well. Or it might be seen as a sculpture.
These boards might be used to construct a space. The boards might also be used as walls to divide the space into four parts.
A space constructed with these materials would be large enough to cover a man.”
Björn Aho (born 1967) is a video and performance artist. His works are generally installations that have a performative aspect. They investigate human communication through the construction and deconstruction of fictions. Aho disconnects elements of fiction from their original context to study them in relation to space, milieu, site, and locality. As their context changes, the elements acquire new meanings, allowing the artist to reveal the fictitious nature of everyday life and the narrative network defining people, stories articulating the self, the other, and place.
Aho’s video installations Me Santa Claus and Father (1997), Barmen (1999) and An Isle (2002) have been screened in the Helsinki City Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, and at many venues abroad. Together with Stig Baumgartner and Vesa-Pekka Rannikko, Björn Aho is a member of a performance group called BAR. The group’s most recent performance was in 2003 at Forum Box in Helsinki.
Björn Aho Artist 