Potkukelkka, 2022

HD video with sound, 03:19 min

 

Potkukelkka (translated as kick sledge in English) is part of a larger body of work where I’m exploring the relationship between physical and digital world’s, alongside the act of world building in video games. Within the work I’m using the map editor from the 1999 turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic III to create a virtual map of my childhood home’s rural surroundings. This web based interactive experience will include locations tied to specific memories from my childhood, highlighted so that audience members can interact with and explore these spaces by clicking animated hyperlinks.

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One of these discoverable hyperlinks, located beside a lake, connects to Potkukelkka, a looping video of a kicking sledge in the snow. A kicking sledge, a small sled consisting of a chair mounted to a pair of metal runners, is a traditional form of transportation in rural areas within Finland. It’s used to cross lakes and traverse the landscape during snowy weather. The kicking sledge was an important part of my childhood home. Whilst growing up my home was a multi-generational household, and through my grandparents the kicking sledge continued to be used.

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Within the video I’m exploring the kicking sledge’s nostalgic status, and how sometimes memories grow sweeter with time, evolving into magical relics. The red quilt draped over the sledge belonged to my grandmother, symbolising the passing down of traditions within mine and other close-knit families, and serves as a reminder of those I used to go sledging with.