Icebreaker
Helsinki, 2013
Icebreaker was an act of defiance performed on the ice off the coast of Helsinki. In this performed response I wanted to play with the delight and anticipation I had experienced in Cildo Meireles’s Through (1983-9/2008) whilst walking across a bed of broken glass. The sea around the coast of Finland freezes over during the winter months making it possible to use for transport between the islands of the archipelago. However, there is always some precariousness as to the strength of the ice, especially at the beginning and the end of the winter, and it can always be dangerous. To jump on the ice was a way for me to translate the delight in the kind of danger walking on the shards of glass that Through produced.
Performed by Salla Östman
Videographer: Sebastian Östman
Video editor: Abigail Conway