Sara Bjarland
	Sara Bjarland coressponded with us from Amsterdam about London, Helsinki, and the Finnish countryside, and how her ideas about the meaning of moving images have developed throughout. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Did you make Interruption as part of a series? SARA BJARLAND: Yes and no. Initially I was experimenting with making different objects move against a black background, and I ended up producing a few different videos, one of which was Interruption. Another one, 1 hour Frozen, was of a frozen mouse that was slowly defrosting over the course of an hour. In Interruption, I was interested in how a movement (the coin spinning) could be stopped over and over again, never allowed to take its natural course (eventually stopping to spin and fall flat on the table). At the same time, I was trying to find the essence in the movement of the spinning coin, and decided to use parts of many different shots of the same action. I was thinking about the coin as being in constant movement. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Are you most at home working in time-based media? Do durational arts present a whole different set of challenges and possible strategies from still media? Are moving images more complex? SARA BJARLAND: After studying photography, paradoxically, I stopped taking pictures for a while, and moved to video and later animation and film. I felt that I was thinking more in 'duration' than in 'instants', that my ideas had more to do with movement and the passing of time, than with what could be captured in still images. But perhaps the division between working in the two media isn't that big; in photography duration also plays an important role, for example in some night shots you might make an hour-long exposure. I don't think that the fact that an image moves or not, makes it more complex, or the production of it more complex. This depends entirely on the artist and the idea he or she is working with. Every medium has its own sets of challenges, which cannot really be compared to another medium. For example in painting it might be really hard to get exactly the right color mix, and in photography getting the right lighting can be crucial, whereas in film or video, other challenges occur/ But there are also challenges that are 'mediumless.' When it comes to viewers, I think that durational arts like video art also demand more of the viewers; their time and patience. Viewers are not usually that patient and only prepared to spend a short time watching moving images (in galleries), and thus they often only see a fraction of the piece. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Is there more truth in a moving image or a still one? SARA BJARLAND: I don't think there is more truth in either. They are both different interpretations of reality. Moving images are often perceived as more real because they present a duration in time, rather than just a frozen instant, but nevertheless, they are representations of moments; framed, cut out segments from reality. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Can you tell us about your background? SARA BJARLAND: I was born in Helsinki and lived there until I was 19. Then I took a one year course in photography in a small town in the Finnish countryside. This is where I learned all my basic skills in photography, all the darkroom techniques and different camera formats, and how to think about lighting. These were basic skills that have stayed with me ever since. After that year I decided to go to England to do a BA in photography. I always wanted to go abroad, to experience something new, and this was my chance. So I went to study at Kent Institute of Art and Design in Rochester, a small town about one hour from London. It was next to Chatham, where I ended up living, and it was the most horrible place to live. It was so dirty, and full of teenagers just hanging around and making trouble. It was not safe to walk home alone at night. I photographed a lot of rubbish on the streets and made a video of plastic bags flying past a tree. This place really made me see the beauty in the ugly somehow. After three years I graduated and moved to London with some friends. We didn't know much about London, and had this romantic idea that it would be so cool. Well, it was cool from time to time, but also very stressful and tiring. After a year I got onto the MFA at The Slade School of Fine Art and suddenly found myself in art school. This was a whole new experience because my BA had been so focused on photography, partly commercial photography, and the environment was completely different. Now I was free to do whatever I wanted, and there was not much structured teaching. By this time I had stopped taking photographs and was working almost entirely in video. But most of the first year at the Slade I spend wondering what the hell I was doing in art school, and at the end I started doing some animation by sticking dead fruit flies onto 16mm leader. This was a step forward for me, working with more tangible materials, and I started to get interested in the ideas of animation. After I graduated I felt my time in London was over, and I moved to Amsterdam where I'm currently living. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Is Amsterdam a good place to be an artist? Is London? Do you find more support and better community locally or via media and the internet? SARA BJARLAND: Amsterdam is so much smaller and less crowded than London; there is none of that pressing stress that you find in London. You can also survive on less money here, and therefore as an artist you have more time for your work, whereas in London you have to work a lot to get money to pay your rent, and it sucks a lot of your energy. A lot of international artists come to Amsterdam, and there are a lot of small artist initiatives and some good contemporary galleries. But there are a lot more established galleries in London, and the art market is much bigger over there. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Would you call yourself a professional artist; a fine artist; a designer; all of these things? Do divisions between art worlds matter to you personally? What kind of 'art world' will you be part of in ten years? SARA BJARLAND: Can't fine artists also be professional and perhaps simultaneously do some designing to earn extra money? I don't find the divisions relevant for myself, if I used them it would only be to make it easier for others to label what I do. I find it impossible to predict the future. The most important thing for me is that I continue doing my art work, in one way or another. LUMEN ECLIPSE: How would you describe your artistic process? Is it necessarily solitary? Do you often collaborate? SARA BJARLAND: I mostly work alone. I ask others for advice and help, but so far I haven't really made a collaborative project with anyone. I would like to work with someone that does something completely different to me, like a writer. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Are there any artists that you are excited by at the moment? SARA BJARLAND: I recently did some research on the filmmaker Anthony McCall and his 'solid light films' from the 70s, which really fascinate me. I also really like the videos by Saskia Olde Wolbers, and some installations by Olafur Eliasson. LUMEN ECLIPSE: Is art school worth the money? SARA BJARLAND: It depends entirely on the art school and how much money it costs, and if you take advantage of the school and its facilities. It depends on what you want from it.