mountebank / puoskari

A trailer covered with pieces of mirrors. Its door is full of bright blinking lights. You can view the interior space of the trailer from the small front window. Inside the trailer there is a mummified squirrell, empty bottles and footage projected from several surveillance cameras.

The trailer is a trap-like creation, a menacing construction that is designed to attract people close to its presence so it can steal their souls into bottles. It is a combination of a freak-show and the reflection on differences between tolerant and fundamentalist attitudes. The mummified sqirrell is an embodiment of horror of death. It's a tool, another bait for individuals' fundamental self-reflective needs.

The first pictures are from Jetty Barracks Gallery (first version with proper lights) and then from Taidehalli, Helsinki (which is an improved version of the artwork, but with a weaker setting due to excessive light).

The mummified squirrell was damaged during this latter building of "the mountebank" so this was its last venue before the final use.

(It will be something completely different.)

• Type: Installation / Sculpture

• Date: 2009
• Materials: mixed media, f. ex.: video, mummified squirrel, mechanically controlled lightbulbs, mirror
• Status / collection: Dismantled