VAARA, ROI. Ars Fennica 2005

Finland 2005. A Norwegian conceptual artist of singular talent, Vaara was recently awarded the renowned Ars Fennica Prize. Known for his performance art as a man painted white all over, his action is existence, walking around in a neat suit with a briefcase in his hand. The white man embodied many different dimensions and references, but the most fascinating of them was the sculpture tradition. In the exhibition context the white marble or plaster sculpture is a normal image of a human being, but outside the museum precisely the same interpretation becomes abnormal. Vaara has taken the idea of a living sculpture into the museum and also developed a glass-case-doll version of it. When his performances do not involve movement, they become endurance tests, humor is mingled with fakir-like suffering: a body shivering with cold is a living musical instrument, which rattles panes of glass, limbs glued high up on a display window create a decorative structure, like a modern sculpture., English/ Finnish, Year2005, Illust. B/W53, Illust. Color79, ISBN 9529874933, Code 5951. Hardbound, In Pristine Condition, Location of Exhibition: Ars Fennica, Helsinki, Finland, 2005, Cat. of exh. Bio. Pages 128, Size 8 1/2”x 11”