Video. By Venla Elina Helenius. Ars Libera, Kuopio // Pori Biennal, Helsinki. 2022
Photo by Venla Helenius
“The only thing I have is my desire to escape to other worlds.
And to pause for moments when laughter and crying have not yet been unleashed,
and being feels in the back of your throat and in the pit of your stomach.
Yes… I only have this desire of mine. Can you hear me?”
Four characters construct a layered fiction for the camera. They are looking for thrill, catharsis, emancipation. Sentimentum depicts layered desires produced by imagination. The characters of the piece possess the ability to imagine fantastical worlds where unruly energy flows between tense bodies and through them. The piece portrays the need of the characters to experience in their bodies such bliss that can only be experienced in escapist fantasies. And it acknowledges their fascination with sentimentalism, and their deep longing for melodramatic finales.
Sentimentum is being shown as a one-channel video installation.
Credits:
concept, script, directing, filming, editing, costumes: Venla Helenius
performers: Teo Ala-Ruona, Anna Kuusamo, Minna Partanen
sound recordings, sound editing, music: Johannes Birlinger
english translation: Eve Lahikainen