residency: December 2005, January–February 2006

Antti Laitinen (Finland)

Antti Laitinen

(born in 1975) lives and works in Finland. He received MFA from Finnish Academy of Fine Arts (2002-04) and BA in Photography at Turku Arts Academy (1998-02). Antti Laitinen’s works begin with a plan, but the final pieces are usually the result of circumstances and outcomes beyond his control. Laitinen, who has a background in photography and multimedia art, primarily stages performances that he then documents or records. Many of his projects involve open-ended, experimental, or durational activities; previous undertakings have included a photographic series produced while Laitinen lived in a forest without clothes, food, or water; rowing across bodies of water in various self-fashioned vessels; and drawings made by pressing his sweaty body on a surface. Disparate as his works are, they explore recurring themes of chance, endurance, communion with nature, absurd humor, and the passage of time. At the end of his residency at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art Antti Laitinen presented video work Snowman which he had made during his stay in Warsaw.

This residency and project were supported by FRAME.