Link


2009
Video DVD
Running Time: 20:00 min


Series of C-Prints
each 27 x 36,5 cm

Link 18
Link 17
Link 16
Link 15
Link 14
Link 13
Link 12
Link 11
Link 10
Link 9
Link 8
Link 7
Link 6
Link 5
Link 4
Link 3
Link 2
Link 1

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Link

This film documents the calm social life that Link, a creature that is half-man, half-monkey, lives with his mother on a small island of Finland, – a paradise of nature away from civilization, until one day, his harmonious existence is interrupted by a journalist who comes from the city to meet him…

The film explores the dilemma between Homo sapiens and nature, of how science and technology have created friction between man and nature, and gives us his controversial view.

It suggests a reconsideration of human evolution with the possibility of starting a new developmental model, rather than searching for future technologies to solve humanity's problems.

LINK

Sara Zanin

"Man, owing to an egoism that is too shortsighted about his own interests, his penchant to take pleasure in all that stands at his disposal, in short, owing to his carelessness about the future and his fellow men, seems to labor at annihilating his means of preservation and even at destroying his own species. By everywhere destroying the great plants that protected the soil, for the procurement of objects that satisfy his craving of the moment, he rapidly brings about the sterility of the soil he inhabits, gives rise to the depletion of springs, keeps away the animals who drew their substance from those springs, and causes large parts of the globe, once quite fertile and populated in every respect, to be barren, sterile, uninhabitable, and deserted. […]It would seem that man is destined to exterminate himself after having rendered the globe uninhabitable."
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Joyful recreation of uncontaminated places, worlds and purity of the mother-son’s bond, of an universe that is one with nature in which every part reflects the totality and in which the great beauty stays in its diversity, LINK represents an act of disapproval toward the human behavior against what is the“other”. The human being thinks to be immortal, (d'eternità s'arroga il vanto, Giacomo Leopardi), but actually, with indifference and madness, changes the natural organization of the world.

Against to the current phenomena of nature’s drying up and human imagination, the artist opposes a new uncontaminated universe able to redeem itself from ecology territories and reports that leads to a cultural behavior of clear analytical approach which «doesn’t forget to ask itself about reasons and implications of its activities» (Menna).

LINK, a being between human and animal who lived in a world without cultural and social stratifications, therefore it creates a contact between the time of uncontaminated life, where the human being melts with the nature, but for the audience eyes it becomes an inconvenient element, a biting argument, that makes one self to ask the question about who is LINK and about the issues of the Earth.

LINK sets out as a necessary reflective antidote toward a civilized nature, unwell-treated by humans.

Underline the lack of respectability and substantial indifference that the human being has toward the ecosystem, Tea Mäkipää creates therefore a world that transform our passive behaviour towards the nature, into awareness, imaginative dissertation and dialogical thought.

As a work experience that pushes against the sense of guilt with a direct and instantaneous awareness about Earth’s condition, LINK opens up an evident linguistic discourse – the word itself means a pure bond with the other and the diverse - acting against the clichés, the stereotypes, the spreading conformism and the respectability that are transforming our world – in order to lift up several issues such as racism and xenophobia, genetic manipulations and test-tube babies, problems that are common in our daily life.

LINK’s point of view leads to a rich and articulated reflection on the world, through an open vision, able to declinate also delicate subjects such as dissimilarity and racism, dealing with them in an original manner, focus on the idea of ethic and beauty that incorporates all the fragility and the potential vitality of our times.

LINK explores all the different faces of social, physical and cultural identities of our contemporary societies. Everyday we deal with a multitude of different identities and roles: we face the public life creating and adapting our social identities; our body and aesthetic tastes modify and are modified by our physical identities; our whole being evolves in the same way as well as contemporary cultures and modern cities do. Differences create new compounds and exchange possibilities.

I will never forget a collector who observed LINK for a long time and approached me saying “I want this work at home, I want to see my friend’s faces when they will enter and look at it”.

LINK becomes an explosive element entering in the houses as a “Virus”, asking us to reflect upon who we are and if the “other” in this situation is LINK or ourselves.