October 29th, Thuesday the “Akademija” gallery (Pilies g. 44, Vilnius) opens an exhibition entitled “have not | need not” by Finnish artist Mikko Waltari.
The have not | need not photographs were taken during the winter 2012-13 in Vilnius while thinking about the writings of Plato, Buber, and Bauman. Plato’s Republic claimed democracy not a perfect form of a state. Buber explained Plato’s ideas almost 100 years ago in his existential psychology, and Bauman sociology since the 1990’s is hitting the same point about our contemporary society.
have not | need not shows artist’s way of finding out how life looks in between the BIG events of our life – birthdays, weddings, graduation, promotions, anniversaries and other festivities are just a vanishingly small part of our lives. The mundane comprise over 99% of of the real.
“In summary one could say that we cannot reach utopias; controversially, we have quelled the EUtopia, and created dystopia for many; Although poverty has been halved sooner than expected and many other things are improved likewise, we also have traded our security to excessive freedom. Confused, in the labyrinth of choices, we flow from one group to another without a strong commitment.
We are divided to those who have and to those who have not. To have not, in our contemporary society, means to be unsatisfied – not being able to reach for the material dreams, the images planted in our minds with the help of commercial messages.”
Creativity is a parallel process of reading, writing, photographing, and understanding. It is holistic experience for me – an expedition, the artist says. The flux of life is captured without the “decisive moment” in mind. The point is the photographers subjective experience of the moment and his thoughts.
The large format printing, combined with supporting system designed by the artist, emphasises photography as not merely a digital file on a computer hard-drive, but a unique physical object.
Mikko Waltari was born in 1966 in Turku, Finland. He worked as an exports manager for over 20 years but eventually got tired of the rat race. He has been studying photography- and media arts in Vilnius Academy of Arts since 2011, using art as therapy in the search of more meaningful life.
