Nanna HÄNNINEN

A NEW DIMENSION (Zürich City (breathing), serie "New Landscapes" // Meditation Practices II. Trying to be a better me

  • YEAR: 2006-2009
    DIMENSIONS: 79 x 100 cm
    TECHNICAL: c-print, diasec / HD DVD
    EDITION: 1/1 - 1/5 + 1 AP
    DURATION: 8’ 36" (loop)
    MODE: instalacion
  • There is a silent face with some movement – eyes are closed – breathing in and out. Smells become strong too, and yes, they do distract me from the practice. There is a scent of sandalwood incense and a small sign of a tension in my armpit. A peaceful moment, no sound in the meditation room, chaos outside the frames. Like a city is restless – or a mind too as it is a bigger construction than any city ever was or will be. I witness it all and let them go too. I am here. I am peaceful.

    Mind might be steady or might not be – you cannot see. Neither can you see the city, but you can see all the lights captured. Exposure time was long so I could record my breathing on the film. It was like a performance made with the smallest but most essential tool in the world, breath – and smelling while breathing because you cannot even avoid that. I could smell rosemary under my nose and neighbours cooking some dinner while exposing the negative. I felt lonely because I had no company for dinner that night.

     

    Nanna Hänninen

  • Exhibitions

    - Smell colour. Chemistry, art and education
    - what is the smell of an exhibition? A selection of works the olorVISUAL collection
    - electric and Distant. colección olorVISUAL Contemporary Photography
  • meditation Practices II. Trying to be a better me

  • YEAR: 2009
    DIMENSIONS: variables
    TECHNICAL: HD - DVD
    EDITION: 1/5 + 1 AP
    DURATION: 8’ 36" (loop)
    MODE: video
  • Hay una cara silenciosa pero en leve movimiento, los ojos cerrados, respirando y espirando. Los olores se tornan tan intensos que me distraen del ejercicio. Hay un olor a incienso de sándalo y noto mi axila un poco tensionada. Un momento de paz, ni un solo sonido en la sala de meditación, el caos fuera de sus bordes. Al igual que la ciudad que nunca duerme, o que tu mente, la mente que es una construcción más grande que lo que una ciudad pueda llegar a ser jamás. Soy testigo de todo ello y a la vez dejo que fluya. Estoy aquí. Estoy en paz.

    La mente puede estar en equilibrio o no, no lo puedes ver. Tampoco puedes ver la ciudad pero sí sus luces, capturadas. El tiempo de exposición fue tan largo que mi respiración quedó “registrada” en la película. Como una “performance” hecha con el instrumento más mínimo pero también el más esencial que existe en el mundo: la respiración y, por ende el olfato, ya que ambos están indisolublemente unidos. Mientras exponía el negativo podía oler la fragancia del romero y la cena que estaban cocinando nuestros vecinos. Me sentí sola, ya que no tuve compañía para cenar esa noche.

    Nanna Hänninen

  • Exhibitions

    - screening olfactory
    - what is the smell of an exhibition? A selection of works the olorVISUAL collection
    - the lost identity. the face, colección olorVISUAL
  • plant II (serie plants/objects/trees/people/paint)

  • YEAR: 2011
    DIMENSIONS: 90 x 71 cm
    TECHNICAL: c-print diasec
    EDITION: 2/5 + AP
    MODE: fotografia
  • The smell of wet earth when flower bulbs are planted in the fall, the expectance through the harsh winter and the fulfillment when finally the king of lilies start to blossom.

    A walk through the garden in the night when lilies seem to pump their odor in to the air and the scents are the strongest. Neither picture -nor paint- can describe this. An image is reconstruction and modification of the real, a trace of evidence as photograph and a hint of thoughts as paint on it.

    Nanna Hänninen

  • Exhibitions