Father and Son
by Jaan Toomik
Artist
Jaan Toomik
(Estland, född 1961)
Date1998
MediumVideo, color, stereo sound
Dimensions2:45 min
ClassificationMoving Images
Credit LinePurchase 2001 funded by The Gerard Bonnier Foundation
Countries
Object NumberMOM/2001/304
CollectionsThe Gerard Bonnier Collection
The artwork is not on display
About the artworkJaan Toomik's video installation "Father and Son" (1997) starts with a long shot showing the frozen Baltic Sea. The viewer's standpoint is on the ice, in the middle of this frozen wasteland. Way in the distance, on the horizon, one sees the wooden coastline. From this direction, a single human figure slowly comes closer. It is Toomik himself, who is skating naked towards the viewer. When he is practically in the foreground, he skates a few circles, struggling against the cold, and then disappears again in the distance. The sequence is under laid with a pure, clear voice singing a medieval French hymn. It seems, only the voice breaks through and transcends the earthly world. It appears to come directly from heaven, thus combining heaven and earth.
The title Father and Son can be interpreted in many ways. The father can be seen as a metaphor for a transcendent, godly dimension, while the son, then, is the artist himself. It gains further complexity if we know that it is Toomik's own son who is singing the medieval hymn.
Selected exhibition history Moderna Museet c/o Skulpturens hus (den 1 juni 2002 - den 30 september 2002) Skulpturens Hus Efter Muren: Konst och kultur i det postkommunistiska Europa (1999-2000) Hamburger Bahnhof Moderna Museet c/o Jönköpings Länsmuseum (2010-2011) Jönköpings läns museum Moderna Museet c/o Storkyrkan (2009) Stockholms Domkyrkoförsamling Moderna Museet c/o BAC (2003) Baltic Art Center The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues After the wall : art and culture in post communist Europe : [Moderna Museet, Stockholm : 16 october 1999 - 16 january 2000]
The title Father and Son can be interpreted in many ways. The father can be seen as a metaphor for a transcendent, godly dimension, while the son, then, is the artist himself. It gains further complexity if we know that it is Toomik's own son who is singing the medieval hymn.
Selected exhibition history Moderna Museet c/o Skulpturens hus (den 1 juni 2002 - den 30 september 2002) Skulpturens Hus Efter Muren: Konst och kultur i det postkommunistiska Europa (1999-2000) Hamburger Bahnhof Moderna Museet c/o Jönköpings Länsmuseum (2010-2011) Jönköpings läns museum Moderna Museet c/o Storkyrkan (2009) Stockholms Domkyrkoförsamling Moderna Museet c/o BAC (2003) Baltic Art Center The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues After the wall : art and culture in post communist Europe : [Moderna Museet, Stockholm : 16 october 1999 - 16 january 2000]