1656 & Walk-by photos 

This project was developed during our stay at Villa Snäcksund in Tammisaari 2006-2009. When I found out that we would live in Tammisaari for three years my main thought was that during this time more or less completely concentrate on one single project, not knowing what the project would be about. As i got more familiar to the surroundings there was produced a series of photographs entitled "walk-by photos" and the main work for the exhibition was a video installation called "1656". 

To explain the background of the project, it should be said that Villa Snäcksund is located on a scenic peninsula where the there is a regular pedestrian traffic witch goes on in front of the studio and apartment building. This brought in an early stage my interest of directly doing something with this place. In the work I have two cameras in my studio filmed every event that occurred between my studio and my apartment for a year, or rather the events and processes exactly on the path that runs along between the houses. It was interesting that there was a path that people subconsciously followed and that led directly over the yard of Villa Snäksund. This provides the basis for interesting behavioral observations. These events witch where recorded were the number of 1656 times during the observation year. Not too many people per day. It is also worth noting that the video only shows the events, not the frozen moments between them. Therefore, this gives the video an impression of a denser traffic than what it actually was. 

Two cameras where installed in the studio, they where placed in an distance of 5 meters apart from each other. This ment that in the composition there was partly the same background in both pictures, but the movement was exact. This is if the people passing the studio where following the given path witch surprisingly in most cases was followed. In the final installation the synchronized videos where shown in this small angle also to create a composition where distance and perspective plays a big roll of the final work. The computer that recorded the movements had a program that detected motion in the picture, so each day there was about 50-100 clips recorded from witch about 1-3 where used for the work. In the end the final duration of the work was 4 hours and 21 minute loop. 

In previous work, I often worked with "video loops". It follows a sequence that will ultimately be fed back to the start and rolls constantly on. The essential thing is not to depict a story with a beginning and an end. More essential for me to depict moods that make up the video. Especially for this project where the subject is considered an everyday happening. Regular human behavior patterns that | in no way can control or influence, only visually record and present. The interesting thing for me is that the artist does not choose his subjects, he only chooses a place and time, and furthur this way follows the development of the work.