Anna Estarriola
Performance for a Rock
2016
single-channel sound and video, natural boulder
3 min 45 s
performance: Jukka Tarvainen
cinematography, digital image advisor and color grading: Martin Jäger
made with the support from: Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
courtesy of the artist
A parkourer’s performance, skilfully leaping across the surfaces of a concrete building, has been joined by a large, natural rock. The rock stands unshakeable on the spot, while the human being bounces, leaps and walks, hands outstretched, pausing occasionally to look at the stone.
The installation is based on an idea common in physics, that observing a situation or phenomenon inevitably changes the situation in question in some way and affects the course of events. Here, the relationship between human and nature, and the attendant power structures, is condensed specifically into the gaze. In a way, visitors, too, become part of the dynamics created by the installation when they stop beside the rock to watch the performance.