Like so many of Finnur Arnar ́s video pieces Journey uses double images to underscore a conceptual whole. Fragments, shown in a loop, feature a walking man dragging along a fisherman`s gaff; another set of fragments are taken up with a man slowly revolving around himself, he ́s clearly the artist. Untouchable money floats in mid air. Fingers beat out a rhythm on a table; all around there are the ragged remains of Christmas past. The artist puts together a set of open-ended symbols. He pulls us, the viewers, into the centre of the piece; much like the revolving man we are placed between images, having to turn this way and that to look at them. What is he thinking, the man who revolves in the whirlwind of money or in the the detritus of a Christmas extravaganza, or the man who waits, drumming with his fingers on a table? Or the fisherman on his neverending journey, holding on to his gaff?
Journey poses questions of some urgency, centering on our humanity. They have to do with the meaning of our lives, our values and our pursuit of happiness. There are no answers to them except the ones we discover within ourselves and these answers may be subject to change. Through its conceptual scale and weighty presence, as well as through its insistent rhythm, Journey is a powerful work. Where is this journey taking us?
Ragna Sigurðardóttir
