Anica Huck: Embodied Knowledge and Transformational Spaces

Anica Huck’s artistic practice explores the profound connections between bodies, space, and the ever-evolving creation of our environment as a mental realm. Her work, selected from over a hundred submissions investigates transformational spaces, challenges conventions, and engages with the spatial politics of the sculptural. Huck’s piece, “flattening of the earth”, will be featured in the “Superorganism” exhibition by the “Magic Carpets” platform for emerging artists, at the Aparaaditehas cultural center in Tartu, as part of the Tartu 2024 program.

In her own words, Huck states, “My artistic research aims to investigate what connects us with space and how we constantly create our environment as a mental realm, where encounter is possible, without imposing a static state.”

This interview explores Huck’s experience during the residency, her exploration of smoke saunas as transformational spaces, and the development of her thought-provoking work for the “Superorganism” exhibition.

What was the starting point for you / main inspiration when developing your artistic work during the residency?

I was inspired by the ritualistic experiences in smoke sauna, which marks a transformational space between man-made and natural realm. In particularly, the ‘whipping ceremony’ in the sauna creates a resonance between bodies and space. The theory of Resonance in terms of the quality of human relationships with the world is proposed by the sociologist Hartmut Rosa.

Reflecting on the above-mentioned, I think the perception of space is essentially defined by the body. We usually consider space as an interval of distance or time between two points, objects or events. Yet space manifests itself through the materiality of our own bodies and thus acquires a symbolic meaning, which transforms space into place, scanning the entire spectrum of identity and sense of belonging.

I believe we must replace our conception of the earth from the planetary view, defined by modern science, to the membrane in which all life exists.

What did you learn from the smoke sauna experience, and from the people from South of Estonia who do smoke sauna as a frequent ritual?

The smoke sauna tradition that has been transmitted from generation to generation became a common ground to reflect on the world haunted by the ghosts of modernity, where desire for control, expansion and growth are at the forefront, oscillating with the habitual human necessity for ritualistic cleansing and healing, both physically and mentally.

In future, I would like to investigate further the concept of embodied knowledge and sensory information in relation to recognition of oneself in a time-space continuum and one’s interactions with the environment. The personification of the Sauna is a crucial part of the tradition in the Southern Estonia and the buildings will therefore never be dismantled. Similarly, humans have personified stars since the beginning of the celestial observations. Therefore, I would like to elaborate on the idea of artistic mapping, by utilizing the archive of variable stars of the Tartu Observatory as well as local knowledge of Saunas in a state of decline.

Please describe your work (title, concept etc.) exhibited/performed at the Superorganism?

My work ‚flattening of the earth‘ investigates transformational spaces in relation to bodies, identity, awareness, communication, and gender. The beforementioned ritualistic whipping ceremony in the sauna has given way to the problem of coordination and the bodily awareness of feelings, an awareness which is based on reflection and resonance in the opposite.

This first part of the work was a collaborative performance with Gary Markle in the sauna space. The reenactment of the whipping ceremony as a fashion shoot addressed questions of identity and representation, for the constitution of a recognition of self.

The second part of the work was an attempt to enter into a relationship with nature at a larger scale through sound waves produced by a leather whip. The traces of the movement in the snow-covered landscape are manifested in a photo series. This mapping project relates also to the so-called Struve Arc – a chain of 34 survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and the first scientific proof of the flattening of the earth. The 34 images, which define a fictional line on the longitude were printed in postcard format in the attempt to send one postcard to a corresponding geographic coordinate which are overspun by the Geodetic Arc as a mean to define an imaginary unit.

The opening weekend of the “Superorganism” event will take place from October 18-19 at the “Aparaaditehas” cultural center, and the event’s international exhibition “Superorganism” will run from October 18 to November 23.