INDOOR HAPPINESS
Photo, Video, Objects and Sound
In 2007 I went to Dubai, the paradise of constructed indoor environments. My main focus was Ski Dubai, an arctic indoor landscape built 2005 in one of the biggest shopping mall in the world, Mall of the Emirates. I wanted to make a research on this environments affect on the user. The artificial substitute as a perception of the real.
When I started my photoshoots and videofilming, I chose a time of the day before opening hours so I had empty and clean environment to work in. It was for me aesthetically important and it made the images look more surreal. You can´t really tell if this is a model or if it has been manipulated in photoshop. Here I found the connection with programs like Second Life and Machinima. I was trying to make a bridge between the real and the virtual. The political focus appeared when I met the first female Emirate ski instructor working in Ski Dubai. We had a discussion about beeing female in a mans dominated society and about her willing to take the choice of doing something else than what was expected from her. A videointerview with her is part of the installation.
From this material containing videos, photos, sound and sculpture, I created the installation ”Indoor Happiness”, a transformation of my observations.
Artistic intention:
My interest for these indoor environments is mostly based on the fascination of how we create environments to satisfy our needs. How we fill our dreams and desires with constructed artificial elements and except this as a perception of the real. I also like to put a focus on the tendenses in the development of architecture and the urban changes. The visual interference of the city with climate challenges and global transportation of people.