Tango Finlandes projected in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 2007. (Photograph by Arja Lehtimaki)

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"Tango first started off in the 1880s in Argentina, amongst the immigrant workers mixing rhythms and moves from Latin America, Europe and some claim even Africa. Men dancing amongst themselves in the waiting rooms of brothels, dancing away the longing they had for their far away homelands. Tango was considered a low class dance, not suitable for the salons of Buenos Aires bourgeoisie. However, when the dance arrived in Europe, Paris as its first stop, it created a craze everywhere." (Arja Lehtimaki on Tango Finlandes)

Tango Finlandes is a site-specific video installation realized in collaboration with award-winning architect and environmental artist Arja Lehtimaki. A silent documentary was filmed at Seinajoki Tango Festival and then projected in Buenos Aires. Finnish tango music, played separately from the film - and thus without synchronization with the movements of the dancers - added to the strange mood of displacement.

"Tango Finlandes took place in Buenos Aires during November 2007. Finnish tango dancing was filmed during the Seinajoki Tango Festival (2007) and projected as a mural onto a wall in central Buenos Aires. Finnish tango music was played on a car strereo next to the projection. The aim of the project was to explore tango as a phenomenon through which it was possible to examine the character of the environment and the different societies in which it had evolved in. What does tango reveal about Finland and Argentina? What is the character of Finnish tango and how can it be communicated through art? How is it be possible to capture the spirit of Finnish tango and take it back to its origins? What reactions will this raise in Buenos Aires?" (Arja Lehtimaki on Tango Finlandes)

Tango Finlandes
2007
A site-specific video installation
36 min

Arja Lehtimaki & Teemu Kivikangas

Exhibition history
2008:
Masters of Art, Helsinki, Finland
2007:
San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina