Touche
Maarit Suomi-Väänänen - 2010, 1:00, DigiBeta (Video), Finland
Discarded plastic bottles in a river swirl. Some are stuck on their own, others clink together. The bottle spin like life depends on it, night and day. Touché is a comment on plastic thrown into water – it stays there. Touché is also an urban landscape portrait – the River Miljacka flowing through Sarajevo.
Touché is the first part of the one-minute Mini Spectacles by Maarit Suomi-Väänänen. Mini Spectacles are telling about big emotions shortly.
Maarit Suomi-Väänänen works as a filmmaker and media artist. Her art is often wordless and abstract so that the works are seen as open and ambiguous. The works of Suomi-Väänänen ponders social themes as well as those connected to identity and communication. Her artistic activities are active. Moving image is at the core of her work. Her work also encompasses photography and installations, including the immaterial such as smoke and light. Praised as fascinating and open to a multitude of interpretations, Suomi-Väänänen's awarded works have toured from San Francisco to Hanti-Mansisjk, appearing at festivals, in exhibitions, and on TV as well in Internet and different kind of happenings. She belongs to the 68 Septante / Vidéothèque Nomade based in Brussels and Ouat Media based in Toronto. Finnish Film Foundation and AV-arkki The Distribution Centre of Finnish Media Art are distributing her films. She was born in Finland 1966. She works and lives in Helsinki. http://www.maaritsuomi.fi/
