Cut Flowers

“Cut Flowers” is a performance with a duration of 41:00 minutes that was performed in Sompasaari, Helsinki in 2022. It consists of a flower arrangement, text and bodily movement. In this performance, I hang out with the flowers in a cold cityscape. The flowers look like they were brought from abroad. The act of placing an extraordinary flower bouquet raises questions of othering and exoticism.

As vital materialist tradition suggests, a vital materialist is attempting to linger in those moments when they notice that they are fascinated by the objects, and interpret them as clues of materialist vitality, that they are sharing with them.

Photography: Frans Autio