The performances, video pieces, photographs and objects of Finnish artist Antti Laitinen (born 1975) choreograph, in humoristic and experimental ways, the desperate quest for identity in remote places. Time and again he arranges absurd situations, subjecting himself to intense physical and mental challenges that are blatantly at odds with their practical use and that make him appear like a modern-day Sisyphus. In his video titled Voyage (2008) Antti Laitinen doggedly and aimlessly paddles across the open sea on a self-built “Paradise Island.” The mobile island represents a place of freedom outside of society, while the surrounding waters always hold the possibility of unexpected encounters. At the same time, the floating island makes him a prisoner in his own Utopia. In Voyage, as in many of Laitinen’s curious escapades, the quest for identity appears to lead to a tragicomical and absurd experience of reality. Antti Laitinen is among the internationally most prominent contemporary Finnish artists and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. The performances accompanying the video Voyage, which is shown at the Museum Kunst der Westküste, was originally staged at the Hotel Meridian exhibition in London in 2008, as well as at theAthens Biennial and the Mänttä Art Festival in Finland in 2009.
