The two-channel video installation “The Waterfall” is about a journey to the Kravice waterfalls in Herzegovina. Lived experiences become memories and develop into stories. “The Waterfall” refers to this process, displaying the narrative as authentic, personal and coherent as well as collective, constructed and interpreted by an actor. The performer in the video work is the actor Vernesa Berbo, born in Serbia and currently living and working in Berlin.
“The narrative of the video is based on three different experiences. The layers of the storyline complicate its relation to authenticity and authorship. I’m also interested in the work and agency of the performer. An actor has a professional relationship to the camera and filming but a
personal interpretation and understanding of the content of the performed text.“ – Merja Hannikainen
Merja Hannikainen (1982) studied photography at the Institute of Design and Fine Art in Lahti, Finland and graduated with an MA (study program Art in Context) from UdK, the Berlin University of the Arts in 2014. Hannikainen has continued studying media art and experimental film at UdK.
7–30 August 2015
MERJA HANNIKAINEN
The Waterfall
HIPPOLYTE STUDIO
Yrjönkatu 8–10 courtyard, 00120 Helsinki, Finland
+358 9 612 33 44, www.hippolyte.fi
Tue–Fri 12–17, Sat–Sun 12–16