Rainio & Roberts

Happiness is written only on history’s blank pages 
- Henri Lefebvre

‘Context #5’ (2006) is part of an ongoing project of textual spatial interventions. The works employ a mirroring of form and meaning, exploring and illustrating concepts of history, space, and the ideological production of meaning within them.

In each of the work, text is inscribed into the landscape within a specific locale. The text is intended to be perceived only partially by the people who live in and use the location’s spaces. The work is completed in another form through photographic documentation, where the ultimate meaning finally becomes clear. It is only through the re-construction of the texts produced under other circumstances that the ‘truth’ is made evident – in much the same way that the reconstruction of historical events transforms them into historical ‘truth’. In the same way that history is reconstructed for ideological motives, so the works of ‘Context’ are reconstructed for other – but not necessarily dissimilar – motives.

Series of 8 images
Varying sizes 

‘Untitled Colour Photographs’ highlights the descriptive nature of the photograph by – literally – describing photographic scenes. Each ‘image’ is printed on photographic paper – it is a photograph. But as with any photograph, we only get a part of the story. There is much left unsaid. Each work emphasises the role that the spectator plays in imagining the scene; in fact, the entire image exists only in the mind of the spectator. The meaning of each image is left entirely up to the viewer and how he or she chooses to ‘read between the lines’. The momentous ‘truth’ of the photograph is exposed as a myth, and the image is transformed into pure interpretation, unique to each person viewing it.

Additionally, each photograph is accompanied by a map reference, locating the source of the image in real geographic space. The grid reference – much like the photograph –  is simply another form of spatial representation. It describes a location, but at the same time it also acts as a quotation – a reference for the description. In this way, the authorship of these images is brought into doubt; if the geographic grid reference is the quoted ‘author’, what is the role of the photographer? 

Ongoing series, printed on photographic paper
Varying sizes.

Three-Legged Trouser Work (For Keith) is a piece inspired by Keith Arnatt’s 1972 work ‘Trouser-Word Piece’. In his original work, Arnatt offered an ironic commentary on his own position through the use of a philosophical analysis of the word ‘real’. ‘Three-Legged Trouser Work’ extends this analysis to deconstruct certain aspects of artistic production in relation to my own current position. In addition to the implications involved in the use of the word ‘real’, the work also discusses the alternative meanings implied through a definition of location (Lapland / Finnish / British) and the discursive context of the term ‘artist’.

A set of three images are each accompanied by a textual ‘diversion’ which both analyses and deconstructs the images and the texts themselves. The meaning of the artworks, the artworks themselves and the spectator’s role in creating meaning are thus brought into question and challenged.

Series of three images/text combinations, printed on photographic paper.
100cm x 50 cm

Towards the end of the second world war, the city of Berlin—like many other German cities—was largely razed to the ground by allied bombing campaigns. What was left standing was destroyed by the Russian advance in the ground battle for Berlin. 

This devastation left Berlin in ruins. The city, whose boulevards and buildings were home to one of the most vibrant and influential cultures of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, was reduced to 100 million tons of rubble.

Following the end of the war, a decision had to be made as to the future of Berlin. Several possibilities were put forward by the allies, the most shocking of which was to drop anthrax on the ruined city, and to rebuild it from scratch some 60 kilometers away.

Finally, however, the decision to rebuild the city in its original location was made. But before this could begin the rubble had to be removed. Because the war had decimated the male population of Germany, the job of clearing up the remains of the city fell to the women. Beginning in 1945, the Trümmerfraun (“Rubble Women”) began the long process of removing and transporting over 25 million cubic meters of the old Berlin. 

The rubble from the old city was taken to three main sites, the largest of which is Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain) in Grünewald, a large woodland park to the south-west of the city.

The photographs in this series were all taken from Teufelsberg. Beneath the trees and undergrowth lies what remains of old Berlin. Occasionally, in a few locations, the remains of the historic city can still be seen; a brick or a small lump of concrete might work its way to the surface once again, a small reminder of the Berlin underground.

Series of 20 images
150 x 110 cm

Single-screen video installation
20 minutes