Detectors
by Raul Kalvo
Location: Lasnamäe, near the crossing of J. Smuuli and Laagna streets
Duration: 22 August – 22 October 2011
Detectors from LIFT11 on Vimeo.
The two massive sculptures that appeared on the banks of ‘Lasnamäe Channel’ (i.e. the Laagna Road cutting) drew attention to the emphatically ordinary, something that lacks the tourist appeal and is simply a part of the everyday environment for the locals as well.
Like many other residents of Lasnamäe, the author, who used to live there, claimed his personal Lasnamäe to have been very boring, as he had only taken the bus route between the city centre and home. With Detectors, Raul Kalvo attempted to bring out the special qualities of the place, combating the preconception that anything built into the area would be smashed immediately. The installation enticed outsiders, as well as insiders, to experience Lasnamäe. A chance observer also became the one being observed, whose attention was caught by the human shape of the object as well as by the specific site accented by the presence of the sculpture.
The Detectors were ‘cloned’ from real people: a form taken from a human body using a 3D scanner was simplified and faceted in a computer; then the facets were cut out of OSB panels and attached to wooden armatures to form the sculptures, which were subsequently transported to Lasnamäe.
