Eija-Liisa Ahtila

Eija-Liisa Ahtila's poetic video installation presents a portrait-in-motion of a giant spruce tree shifting in the wind. In order to make it fit into an exhibition space scaled for human viewers, the artist chose to project the image horizontally rather than vertically. This simple rotation of 90 degrees powerfully challenges habitual modes of organizing and depicting reality by making visible our anthropocentric perspective. In between painting and cinema, strange and beautiful, Horizontal probes human perception and invites us to consider the coexistence of separate spatial and temporal spheres for different living beings.Horizontal, 2011 6-channel projected HD installation, surround sound, 6 mins. Purchase, Contemporary Art Acquisitions Committee of American Friends of the Israel Museum, New York

Finish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila undertakes an ambitious task: to document and photograph a spruce tree measuring over ten meters high, and to present it in its natural size. Due to the large scale of the spruce, the artist chose a presentation that is a departure from the conventional perception of a tree: rather than vertical, Ahtila’s tree is horizontal. Our encounter with this work allows us to closely examine a familiar reality from an unfamiliar perspective.