What would the best possible future look like? is a question asked on the soundtrack of the piece. The text, read in the convincing style of a therapist, merges with views from a house in New York’s Bronx whose days of glory are long gone. Lounila’s home was also in the same building, when she lived in New York. Over the years, the owners of the building had done little in the way of renovations.

A house, with its different floors and characteristics, indeed often functions as a metaphor and symbol of the human mind in psychological and artistic interpretations. On the one hand, the hopeless condition of the building left to disintegrate can be interpreted as a process of giving up, of lethargy, of losing one’s dreams. On the other hand, the aged house may kindle hope, hinting about as yet unrealized possibilities and the daydreams about the building.

Sinking into time

Liisa Lounila’s piece is originally made to be viewed with VR glasses. The Kiasma Online Art website exhibits a 2D version of the artwork. Through the video, the viewer can visit the dilapidated house, but is simultaneously granted entry into another person’s as yet unrealized dreams.

The text heard in the video is a commissioned piece written by Finlandia prize winner Jussi Valtonen, and read by Oliver Lyons.