Projects 2002

Annika Larsson's new video POLIISI, shot in Helsinki's Senate Square. Larsson's videos are characterised by uncanny atmospheres and enigmatic rituals. Details are scrutinised and slowed down to eerie perfection, time and space are condensed and isolated, drawing the spectators into sharing the same fantasies - or triggering new ones.

Shot at night in the monumental environment of the Senate Square in Helsinki, Poliisi portrays four characters: three men dressed as riot policemen in full gear wearing helmets, shin-guards and batons, together with a jockey-like character dressed in riding boots, a yellow bomber-jacket and knee-pads.

Annika Larsson was born in 1972 in Stockholm and now lives in Berlin, Germany. She has recently received a great deal of international acclaim for European shows, for her exhibits at the 49th Venice Biennial and for the prestigious Art Fair Basel where she was honoured for her work Dog. At the Art Fair Basel, she was one of the two young artists who won the Baloise Art Prize.

In her videos, Annika Larsson creates very peculiar uncanny atmospheres and entirely constructed worlds, abiding by their own rules. Most of the scenarios feature seemingly meaningless mini-dramas, composed of enigmatic rituals. Every object, every gesture, every glance is carefully scrutinised and slowed down to eerie perfection.

Although the actors in Annika Larsson's videos are always men, her work cannot simply be described as a critique and examination of Western male power and its codes. It is more the ambivalent erotic tension created through these detailed settings that is at stake. Time and space are condensed and isolated, emanating such a detached intensity that we, as spectators, are drawn into sharing the same fantasies - or possibly different ones, triggered by our own minds.

Annika Larsson's new video Poliisi was commissioned by NIFCA following a residency by the artist in Suomenlinna, Helsinki, during autumn 2001.
Music for the video was made by Tobias Bernstrup.

Poliisi was viewed in NIFCA in January 2002 and currently tours internationally.

www.annikalarsson.com