Antti Laitinen - My Island

I have chosen to do my write-up on this piece from the Earth event. In the videos that accompanied the photos, "Laitinen builds his own island in the Baltic Sea by dragging two hundred sand bags into the water over a period of three months - using nothing but a spade, sand and sacks. Individually filling each of the bags with sand, the three simultaneous videos go on to show Laitinen painstakingly dragging each bag, one by one, into the sea, braving the harsh waves and conditions, until the island starts to appear over the water" [1]

The work was not originally intended to be concerning climate change, he says, “Climate change is not the main thing, but people have started to look at my work through this theme. I understand this well since climate change is currently a trendy topic”. “The will to build oneself an own independent micro-nation inhabited by a single citizen - I would consider themes such as these to be the starting point for my works, not climate change” [2]

Here are a few images of the work [3]:








Here is a video of the exhibit:


Find more videos like this on artreview.com


Sources:

[1] http://www.nettiehorn.com/It%27s%20My%20Island.htm
[2] http://www.finemb.org.uk/Public/default.aspx?contentid=181969&nodeid=35864&culture=en-GB
[3] http://www.nettiehorn.com/Exhibitions/It%27s%20My%20Island/It%27s%20My%20Island_Installation.htm