Signs of Flood (Positions for Living), Queens Museum, NYC, 2016. Banners by Minna Pöllänen, video by Bang Geul Han. Learn (positions for open water), detail from Signs of Flood. Wool, wood, second-hand fabric. SIGNS OF FLOOD (Positions for Contemporary Living) 18 banners embroidered with a choreographic score of body positions pulled from social media, Google image search and news sites. The slow process of hand stitching immobilizes the body caught in action: a series of yoga poses, disaster survival tactics, person traveling under a truck, Steve Jobs presenting a new Apple product, Obama doing bunny ears in a manipulated news image, and so forth. The banners evoke the schizophrenic constellation of topics we digest, edit, and respond to on a daily basis, distilling the algorithmically delivered news stories that flood our social media profiles, browsers, and inboxes into visual one-liners that maintain a physical relationship to one another. The accompanying titles contrast the movements in the banners, offering more information on the original source material, simultaneously questioning verbs associated with contemporary living and values in Western market society. With the kind support of: Material for the Arts, Queens Museum, Frame Finland and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
2016
First shown in Queens Museum, New York
Discarded fabric, wool, wood
In the Queens Museum the banners formed an installation with Bang Geul Han’s real-time video-piece carrying the same title.
Signs of Flood