Paradise Regained by Apinan Poshyananda They [Adam and Eve], looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat Waved over by that flaming band, the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms: Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide; They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took solitary way. John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667 In one way or another, we are all in search of paradise. This celestial place has many variations: Eden, El Dorado, Arcadia, Valhalla, Elysium, New Jerusalem, Utopia and Nirvana. In John Milton's Paradise Lost, the evocative representation of paradise is conjured up with the fervent hell and idyllic garden, the awe-inspiring God and cunning Satan. In the fall of Adam and Eve, the angel Michael leads both sinners out of paradise, the fiery sword waving behind them, and the Cherubim taking their stations to guard the place. Milton's great epic teaches us that man's free will brought about his fall, yet God is merciful and offers Adam and Eve a paradise on earth, to come from within themselves. There are many ways to reach paradise. In the Middle Ages, many believed that Christianity was the only path to eternity. The Vatican and the Pope were symbols of salvation. Martin Luther's religious convictions led him to challenge papal authority and found a new faith. Protestants and Catholics became enemies and shed blood for their faith. The Counter Reformation and colonial conquests helped to regain much of the Vatican's former vigour. Missionaries were sent to the Americas and Asia to convert heathens to become Christians. The mission was to save mankind for the Day of Judgement. The converted went to heaven, while heretics and non-Christians went the opposite direction. European contacts with the Near East and Asia through colonisation and expeditions opened the enchanting world of the Orient and became the rich source of inspiration. For utopia-seeking travellers and colonisers the reconstruction of the Orient was part of the notion of Empire and cultural imperialism. This was no "real" Orient, because the orient itself was an Orientalist concept. Orientalism, according to Edward Said, is simply "a kind of Western projection onto, and will to govern over, the Orient" Some Europeans viewed colonialism as a machine of fantasy, and of desire with reverential feelings about Asia as the mystic sublimity of race. Others depicted Asian natives as exotically cultured and more promiscuous than Europeans. For instance, Bali was constructed by European fantasy as the island of the bare breasts and a place for sexual debauchery. Buddhism, being based on a belief in reincarnation, aims at the rejection of the self and merit-making to reach the void so that one is not reborn. When consciousness is freed from greed, hatred and delusion, which are the roots of karma, karma-energy is exhausted and will not be reborn after death. The journey to Nirvana differs to the one to Christian paradise. There are various sects of Buddhism that at times combined with Shintoism, Confucianism and Taoism. Famous tales related to Buddhism such as that of the Monkey King in Xi You Ji (The Journey to the West) have always been popular with the rural population. These tales are about pilgrimage of those who pursue mental and spiritual values. A Buddhist paradise on earth. For Muslims, the pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad and Holy City of Islam, is the journey to pay respect and devotion to Allah. Muslim holy books contain highly specific directions prohibiting killing without cause. Human life is regarded as most sacrosanct. The Koran forbids suicide. This is why many Muslims have denounced the perversion of Islam and those who carried out the atrocities at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the name of Islam. Shockingly, it was discovered after the explosions that the hijackers carried out strict instructions in belief that the reward for suicide missions was eternal life in paradise. Through the eyes of Muslim extremists these heroes became martyrs on that fateful day. For these believers, anti-American values and hatred for the "religion" of consumerism have been ingrained in their psyche. They feel that American crusaders have invaded the Holy Land the Jews in the Holy War. Inevitably, when Muslim freedom fighters emerged against "evil" invaders they have tremendous appeal to the people on the streets. Heroes who joyously sacrifice their take shortcuts to paradise. We are living in strange times. Our appetite for violence, scandal and shocking news through the mass media has caused difficulty for our mind to differentiate between reality and fiction. For many people life will never be the same after the United Airlines planes crashed into the WTC towers. The official clich?s among Americans are "everything has changed" and "this means war". Americans long for the lost paradise of 2001. As an American reporter noted, while flag-waving has been an appropriate response there are some wrong notes in the American national chorus. Bullying is the underside of patriotism. Victimisation has been the theme for Americans who need grief counselling and candlelight vigils. Meanwhile, the American mission to wage war against terrorism has destroyed more innocent lives. For Afghan refugees paradise could be beyond the border to Pakistan. American attempts to bring the "evil" to justice have been like trying to find a needle in a haystack by burning the haystack. Like catching the grasshopper on the elephant's back, President George Bush's mission for total victory over terrorism is impossible. Terrorism is not "an enemy" that can be defeated. It is a tactic available to any enemy (Americans and Brits included). In general, it can be discouraged but never be eliminated The crash of the American airbus on 12 November 2001 (accident or sabotage) proved that disaster could return to the streets of New York at any time. Prise not the day until evening has come; A woman until she is burnt; a sword until it is tried; A maiden until she is married; ice until it has been crossed; Beer until it has been drunk. Viking Proverb History has taught us that the Near East is the cradle of civilisation. From Egypt and Mesopotamia civilisation spread to Crete, Greece, Rome, and eventually, to the barbarians of northern Europe. Many believed that the Scandinavians were the farthest from the source of wisdom and civilisation from the East. In the tenth century A.D., Ahmad lbn Fadian from Baghdad was one of earliest known eyewitnesses to record Nordic life and society. An outsider, an Arab and Muslim who travelled and fought with the Norsemen, lbn Fadian accounted stories and customs of this fascinating race of people. Today, new discoveries and theories have revealed that Vikings (possibly from the Old Norse vik meaning bay) were extremely cultured and intelligent. They were exquisite craftsmen and intrepid explorers, whose skill in seafaring brought them to North America some 500 years before Columbus. Preparation and research for the exhibition Beyond Paradise: Nordic Artists Travel East took over two years. I was invited to look at Nordic art through the outsider's gaze. The aim of this travelling exhibition is to connect and erase stereotypical perceptions of the Other. By allowing Nordic artists and their work to act as catalysts to remove cultural barriers, it is hoped that reciprocity can genuinely take place. In the era of clash of civilisations, racism and fanaticism, contemporary art has the potential to get rid of prejudices and abhorrence. We desperately need to comprehend one another to encourage peace instead of cleansing blood with more blood. During the 1 990s, there was much discussion on two kinds of miracle - the Nordic Miracle and the Asian Miracle. For the Nordic people, the last decade witnessed rejuvenation in art and culture that went hand in hand with the recovery from the economic slump of the Despite growing interest in the emerging art from the Nordic and Asian zones, it is surprising that there have been relatively few overlaps and direct contacts between these regions 1980s. Contemporary Nordic art is no longer ghettoised as uninteresting and peripheral. There has been a growing genuine interest in formerly remote regions and cultures, especially in the Nordic zone. For Asians, the Asian Miracle implied miraculous economic growth and expansion of trade, telecommunication and information technology. The rise of the Asian tigers as economic competitors to the West led to a fascination with contemporary Asian art that, like Nordic art, was previously overlooked. Despite growing interest in the emerging art from the Nordic and Asian zones, it is surprising that there have been relatively few overlaps and direct contacts between these regions. Not surprisingly, stereotypes and preconception of Nordic and Asian cultures and ways of life remain. Through Nordic perception, Asia is exotic and distant. The perception of Asia as deprived, torn between corruption and war, is still fixed. In contrast, Asians may perceive the Nordic in terms of the sublime landscape, navigation and the welfare state. The stereotype of blonde, blue-eyed Scandinavians, sauna, outdoor sports and vodka. In fact, traditions and culture in the Nordic and Asian zones could not be more different. And yet, contemporary art from these so-called peripheral places has recently risen strongly and almost simultaneously on international art arenas. This travelling exhibition is analogous to a vessel that sails into the deep ocean where new discovery awaits. It is essential to understand that the selected Nordic artworks are not meant to serve preconceived notions of stereotypical Nordic art - light, nature and lunacy. The concept of inventing traditions has to be taken in consideration as this exhibition might be seen as a cultural mission designed to propagate Nordic identities. The construction of a nostalgic image of Nordic identity, based on the notion of united will and romantic ideas of the Nordic sublime, is not the main criterion for this art project. What should be made explicitly clear is that this art project is not an "invasion" or "crusade" of the Norse to disseminate the new miraculous Nordic art to the impoverished and developing countries in Asia. It does not intend to reflect the Nordics as overzealous, self-appointed "moral guardians" of the world whose mission is to spread their art and culture to less fortunate countries. From the outsider's gaze 1 have put forward the question 'How miraculous is the Nordic Miracle?' Has there been a perception of Nordic art as nice, sleek but nothing special. Or, have there been some exterior factors where international tendencies have shifted towards contemporary art from the Nordic region? Has the desire to reach beyond the mainstream to the peripheral and local caused the once nothing-special art to be the cutting edge? For those who live in the Asian region, where the climate for most of the year is warm, it is difficult to imagine snow, glaciers and Arctic life. Glaring heat and scorching sunshine produce feeling of a different kind to icy atmospheres and subzero climates. Subliminal, white Nordic light pierces through dark clouds in the snowy landscape. The midnight sun and the aurora borealis. The solitary figure sways in the bitter wind. Expression of the Nordic soul is represented through romantic lunatic geniuses like Carl Fredrik Hill and Edvard Munch. Conversely, visitors might perceive the calm and stable Nordic lifestyle through experiences at the open-air museum Skansen with authentically dressed locals surrounded by livestock and a natural landscape. Or, the image of modern advancement, comfortable and stylish societies that produce famous brands such as Volvo, Nokia, Ericsson, H&M, I KEA, Abba and Aqua. What visitors do not experience so much are the problems of unemployment, alcoholism, racism, drugs and violence. Subjects that are alienated from Paradise on earth. Romanticism, melancholy and sublimity seem inseparable from Nordic artists. Yet, some sentimental works are pushed to the limit of the culturally prescribed kind of image making. Torbiorn Rodland's photographs mimic Romantic scenes of lonely figures in wilderness but contain an uneasy feeling mixed with absurdity and contradiction. They depict scenes of everydayness with youths posing like models in fashion magazines. In A Norwegian Landscape 7 (1993), a blonde strolls in the woods holding an Esso plastic bag with his/her back to the viewer. Sublimation (1998) depicts a mildly erotic scene with a girl feeding a goat with a carrot. In Nude No. 3 (1999), a sensuous blonde stands displaced in front of a dark cave made of dead branches. She wears nothing except her dirty white Nike shoes; her posture is contemplative as she holds her cheap carry-all bag. She is lost like some modern-day Eve/nymph in the woods brooding for a way to Paradise. In Priest (2001), the clergyman looks sceptical and incredulous. He too is anxious and unsure. In Boy (2000), the blonde boy is sure of what he is aiming at as he pisses into the lake. An innocent child in a romantic landscape that could be mistaken for something mischievous. Oulu is a Finnish paradise turned Silicon Valley. It is the home of Nokia, where sleek, futuristic glass buildings rise out of the remote countryside. A place for booming IT technology, as well as the residence of solitary old folks. Photographic portraits by Esko Mannikko are icons of stereotypical Nordic loneliness. In Savukoski (1994), a lonesome man sucks his cigarette as he feeds a lamb from a milk bottle. Living in seclusion, he has no one to turn to except his pets and alcohol. Finnish life is not all heavenly and standardised. In Organized Freedom (2001), the abandoned houses and battered doors are like weather-beaten old men seeking their Arcadia in vain. Country cottages with flaking paint and snow-covered porches convey the strange beauty of rural northern Finland. Peter Johansson takes elements from the cultural heritage and searches for the Swedish soul. Using national symbols such as the Dala Horse, Johansson machine-slices the wooden toys and displays them in polystyrene dishes. By deconstructing these painted souvenirs, Johansson questions how ornamental decorations have been manipulated as part of the Swedish cultural industry. His colourful and amusing booklets display the happy life of Swedes. Crafts, sausages and sauna. Humorously, he looks at the middle-class family enjoying a sauna. The caption reads: "This is not sadomasochism, a light stroke of the birch is beneficial!" In Why Is Life so Full of Problems Life without Problems in a Paradise ~ Is this Possible? (1 998-2000), portraits of Swedes from Skansen dressed in folk costumes are displayed with images Of hooded riders and knitted ski masks hung menacingly below a table top. Johansson questions the paradisiacal image of the Swedish welfare state created by Cari and Karin Larsson and Anders Zorn. The idea of a cultural heritage, a homogeneous and pure society thriving for "the land of milk and honey just around the corner", is starkly contrasted with images of increasing xenophobia and fear of the Other. In Peter of Sweden (2000), Johansson portrays himself as a Nordic wench full of sexuality and masculinity. The quest for the Nordic soul in the wilderness and wide expanses has aroused fascination for the Other within the Nordic paradigm. The idea that the grass is always greener on the other side has spurred Mette Tronvoll and Mads Gamdrup to travel to remote regions in search of inspiration. The photographs they produce are vivid, hyper-real and perplexing. Norwegian Tronvoil travelled to the islands of Unartoq and lsortoq, Greenland, to photograph glaciers, hot springs and Greenlanders. Gamdrup, a Dane, spent time driving and camping in Iceland. Both artists seek to experience another culture by directing their gaze through the camera at shimmering light, hazy clouds, magical landscapes and wild flowers. Their visualisation of paradise on earth can be linked to the heritage of photography of documenting strange and exotic places. Gamdrup represents Romantic sublime landscapes, emphasising the unfathomable immensity of nature. Human presence is indicated by an abandoned truck. In contrast, Tronvoll confronts the indigenous inhabitants bathing in a steaming lake in the freezing climate. Scrutinising Greenianders who look both Eurasian and Oriental is a fascinating experience for Tronvoll. In turn, the bathers look back at the "foreign" visitor, who becomes the object of the gaze. Jouko Lehtola has been fascinated by youth culture in the Finnish countryside and urban areas. Young Heroes (1 995-96) are like carefree Adams and Eves who seek their version of Eden in rock clubs, dancehalls and rave parties during summer nights. Lehtola captures them in various moods - joyous, sombre, ecstatic, and vulnerable. A glimpse of their life is captured at the moment when the glorious sun never seems to set. Like most teenagers, these youngsters move on as maturity sets in, leaving slices of mermory of divine and blissful experiences, with the delicious taste of the first kiss and wild times in the woods. Elina Brotherus's self-portraits in various situations and settings become incomplete stories that invite the viewer to associate to their own experiences. Delicate, melancholy and vulnerable, Brotherus is exposed, like the lost Eve without her Nike shoes who could not find her way back to Eden. I Hate Sex (1998) is staged, but with an impact that directly touches reality. The dramatic scene is set in the bedroom. The subject is "I", Elina, who hates sex. We see no one else in her company. The atmosphere is highly charged and disturbing. Something has just happened - a quarrel, an assault, a rape? Under the surface of a happy home, a sinful act might have been committed. We are left to tie up the loose ends of this story. h is one that many of us have encountered but left untold. Blondes are fascinated by Asians, and vice versa. Fantasies, stereotypes and fixation tend to generate exotic images of how we perceive the Other. Vibeke Tandberg is known for her photographs and digital montages that explore physiognomy and personality. We might perceive blondes as beautiful and sexy, but what if they are detestable and dumb? Blue-eyed and blonde signifies the genealogical and hereditary background of a superior, pale race. Tandberg explores this construct and misconception in her Beautiful (1999) series. Close-up portraits of the artist's head wearing a blonde wig are shot as the fake hair is blown in twisting, elaborate curves. Against the dark background, the hair spins and swirls as it covers and obliterates the identity of the face. Unlike the burqa that hides the personality of Afghan women, the blonde mass seems to overflow uncontrollably, like some fetishist ready-made object for sexual satisfaction. Helena Hietanen conjures up the idea of blonde infatuation by using historical wigs and collected hair from various donors. Her interest in handicrafts and technology has also produced stimulating light-reflecting optical laceworks. Hietanen's impulse to use hair came when her sister lost her hair during cancer treatment. Hair became symbol of hope when it grew back after therapy. In Asian Blonde (2002), an abundance of blonde hair is fixed to the wall with butterfly pins. The hair quivers, creating shimmering shadows on the surface. Hietanen comments on Asian youth culture, with its obsession with dyed blonde hair, coloured contact lenses and white skin. Fake and real blonde hair are mixed to create a new space of exotica and superficiality. Notably, wigs of bleached Asian hair are popular among European hairdressers for their strength and thickness. Exotic blondes have been represented as irrational, troubled and tormented. Heli Rekula relates images of super blondes with the immaculate conception. In Desire (1996), the impeccable girl becomes an object of seduction. Her blonde wig gives her an aura of the pristine and Barbie-doll look, evoking unnaturalness and fakeness. Her pale body is angelic, while her expression is audacious and libidinous. The brown smudge on her face could be anything from chocolate, soil or bodily fluids. In the series Pilgrimage (1996), the young anorectic girl is the icon of virginity and innocence. She is inspired by devotional and trance-like acts of pilgrims who prostrate themselves or walk on their knees at sacred places like Jerusalem, Liasa and Banahaw. Stigmatised by nail holes, she displays her wounds to confirm that she is untouchable and impenetrable. She bleeds with no pain. By contrast, Eija-Liisa Ahtila is renowned for her video installations which combine subjects of traditional Nordic film with soap opera, to depict bizarre and disquieting episodes of human behaviour. Teenage girls chat about sexual experiences; a schizophrenic having a relationship with God; family members share joy and tragedy. Psychoanalysis that allows patients to release their emotions through therapy has been evident in Ahtila's recent video work. In The Present (2001), short scenes appear on monitors like TV commercials, while the enigmatic contents draw in the spectators to share paradoxical and mysterious events. Scenes inspired by visits to psychiatric wards show a woman who hides under the bed, a female crawling over a bridge, a girl who lays in a mud puddle and a woman who hears voices and shuts out all daylight. Things seem to be anomalous when they do not comply with normal standards. For those who have developed a psychosis, sanity and delusion seem to be inseparable. Photographic portraits by Annika von Hausswoiff and Annee' Olofsson represent sensuous and cryptic atmospheres which are both enchanting and awesome. von Hausswolff is known for her captivating back-to-nature works with abandoned nude body in romantic landscapes. Feelings macabre and sublime are mixed, as the naked torso looks beautiful and lifeless. In The Best Stories Are the Ones Never Told (1 999), Mom and Dad Making Out (1 999), The Petrified Couple (1 999) and Alone in the Brown Room (1 999) the scenes are more intimate, like a child experiencing incidents at home that he/she is not supposed to witness. Caught-in-the-act scenes, such as parents having sex or a brother masturbating, are left untold. In contrast, Olofsson's domestic scenes reflect anxiety and uncanny feelings that evoke the idea of loneliness and death. The play of tension in the Swedish middle-class home is reflected in the stiff, rigid models who turn away from the camera. In God Bless the Absentees (2000), the sitters' clothes peculiarly meld with their immediate surroundings. Menacing shadows lurk in the corners. Trapped in the comfortable life of the welfare state, the silent rooms breed loneliness, spookiness and distance from the outside world. In Unfamiliar (MelFather) (1997), Olofsson is seen with her father in intimate postures that imply incestuous acts. Within this bond of closeness there is a feeling of distance and rupture in the father-daughter relationship. Salla Tykka's Power (1999) is a male-female confrontation in which the artist is shown bare-breasted in boxing gear, fighting a heavy-set opponent. The theme from the Rocky movie plays as Tykka exchanges blows with the muscular middle-aged man. At first, the contest seems one-sided, but Tykka bounces back courageously as sweats pour down her body. The combat is symbolic of Tykka's psychological fight against patriarchal power in the social fabric, where the male role is often revered as robust and potent. The gutsy perseverance of Tykka is symbolic of her courageous search for her true self while accepting that the more she thinks of her mother, the stronger the image of her father appears. In the realm of imagination and fantasy, artists have the gift of evoking all kinds of journeys beyond real time. Cari Michael von Hausswolft has collaborated in the establishment of a fictitious independent Artists'State, in which all aspects of life are reinforced by its autonomy. As on entering Arcadia, all loyal subjects would be immortal. von Hausswolff's fascination for experimental music has led him to examine the potential of sound waves and light streams. His quasi-scientific laboratory with radar system is like a quest for spiritual communication with the other side. For Asians, contacting the dead is nothing out of the ordinary, but von Hausswolff's innovative detectors open new possibilities of shifting beyond our time and spatial confinements. In contrast, Kjell Bjorgeengen's idealistic pursuit of purity and blankness through an amalgamation of sound waves, moving images and lights is like receiving transmissions from the other side. Grainy, ghostly images constantly vibrate and peel off, to reveal hidden forms that build up then disintegrate. Like thousands of abstract and calligraphic messages they are undecipherable. Stimulation of senses arouses inner reaction, as visual and acoustic syntheses attempt to reach the unattainable level of nothingness. Bjorgeengen's colliding visions and sounds are metaphoric of shifting voids in parallel worlds. Henrik Hikansson's fascination for mutual communication between the animal and human kingdoms has driven him to create environmentally conscious art with living creatures. Research on specific natural surroundings, with playful settings such as music tuned for croaking frogs and singing crickets result in close encounters between ecology and art. Video recordings of insects and animals appear magically on the screens, like species from another planet. By connecting art with the ecosystem, Hakansson's message through his works touches on various aspects of evolution, survival and entropy. His research on insects and endangered species of birds in Southeast Asia is like a mission, with the hope of recapturing the presence of paradisiacal animals. The search for near-extinct birds is comparable to the romantic quest of a Nordic figure lost in the Asian tropical forests. Olafur Ellasson's Icelandic origin has contributed to his preoccupation with a Nordic tradition of melancholy and the vastness of nature. The idea of rivalry between nature and urbanisation is nothing new. However, Eliasson's intervention with the environment, focusing on displacement, offers a fresh perspective, but not necessarily resolution or compromise. Records of glaciers and riverbanks near the North Pole are like geological surveys of land trans formation. His site-specific works incorporate a dialog between outside/ inside, as light boxes, trees and icicles are used to conjure up the notion of space beyond real time. Projects that use green colour dyes to transform the colour of rivers in Norway, Sweden and Japan for several hours heighten our feeling of reality. Eliasson's intervention temporarily takes us into the realm of fantasy or present a warning that an artificial substance can be destructive to nature. In contrast, lver Jaks is a symbol of the isolated figure in the Norwegian landscape deeply rooted in Sami tradition. Close contact with shamanic cult and animistic beliefs during his youth has inspired Jaks to connect art, everyday life and the sacred. Reindeer antlers, wooden poles and robes signify rituals and shrines that are closely tied to local myths and polytheism. Fragments of tiny bones, antlers and carved wood are placed at random, allowing the element of chance to create fresh combinations. The play of large/small scales is essential. Interpretation of Jaks's works relates to the soul of Sami folk beliefs that have their place among the Norse gods. These refined objects are reminders of Sami roots and beliefs that contradict "the one true god" of Christianity. In a video by Peter Land, the scene of a huntsman strolling in the Nordic woods can be full of irony and hilarity. Land's landscape is one of subliminal beauty; a paradise on earth. Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony plays on the soundtrack. A perfect day to be in the countryside to stalk wild animals. The hunter reaches the lake and rows his boat out towards the centre. Instead of aiming his rifle at some flying pheasants or grouses, he blasts a hole in the hull of the boat. Calmly, he stands and watches as the boat slowly sinks to the bottom of the lake. Land plays many roles in his lively video work. They depict him as a cellist, clumsily preparing to perform but failing off his scat. As an amateur dancer/director he absurdly joins in with the blonde striptease dancers. Land tells us through his work that we all live in an imperfect world. Failure and frustration are part of life. So, let's laugh at life. Michael Elmgreen and lngar Dragset have explored the power structures connected with architecture and art institutions. For them, the white cube is symbolic of fictitious space and an arena for power display. Unlike white walls in factories, these white cubes represent a decorative finesse of taste and aesthetic values. By introducing masculine elements into the white space, Elmgreen and Dragset shift the mood towards the working man's body and male sexuality. At the National Art Gallery in Bangkok two house painters, one young, the other old, continuously apply white paint with rollers to the walls for six weeks. The task of covering countless layers of paint signifies a critique on white-on-white aesthetics and power structures of Western art discourse. Moreover, the manual process of covering the white walls to achieve whiteness is intentionally off the wall. There is a desire to know what these artisans are trying to cover up. The endeavour seems futile and endless. It is like trying to reach beyond the other side of unknown territory. However strenuous, it is worth an attempt. Magnus Wallin's video installations are like computer games that disrupt real time in order to slip into unknown space and time. Animations, computer graphics and sound create three-dimensional nightmares, as tortured and disabled characters from paintings by the Flemish artist Hieronymus Bosch become emotionally charged. They are trapped in a kind of death sports arena. They struggle to escape, but hellfire mercilessly engulfs them. We can hear sounds of crowds cheering as these handicapped victims are burnt alive. Wallin forces us to confront the human fascination for blood sports that often spills into wars and catastrophes. These apocalyptic scenes evoke human atrocities in places like Vietnam, Cambodia and Afghanistan. In another scene, the utopian harmony is disrupted as angels fly against the helicopter with survivors and plunge it into the abyss. As they sink into the hellhole, the scene shifts once more, to cloned female swimmers displaying harmonious athletics in the swimming pool. Glimpses of Albert Speer architecture and the Berlin Olympic stadium of 1936 reflect the fantasy of paradise that was soon followed by Hitler's drive to bring the blue-eyed white race to perfection. Wallin's powerful video work grips our attention with shock and delight. In contrast, Per Maning's video works lack violence and human presence. For Maning, the animal kingdom is more desirable and beneficial. Intense studies and research on animal behaviour reveal Maning's sensitivity and sympathy for the life forms that share our planet. A calf chewing grass in nocturnal light is poetic and beautiful. The innocent look that stares at the camera is like that of a child. Unlike Magnus Wallin's cloned swimmers, Maning's seals are carefree and lively. By recording through glass interiors the seals look like they are flying acrobatically in space. They gaze back inquisitively at the viewer. There is a meditative feeling of being outside time, as it is not certain which side of the aquarium the seals or humans are placed. Majestically, the seals float in a timeless zone. In Maria Friberg's Almost There (2000), businessmen dressed in impeccable black suits are seen floating in the bubbly blue water of a swimming pool. These men, whose dress code signifies power and control, are in a state of flux as they struggle together to reach an unknown destiny. They huddle together in a group, for fear of drifting into deep waters. Their expression is one of uncertainty, but not a state of panic. Friberg poignantly questions their masculinity and ability to keep afloat as time goes by. Sadly, time seems to have stopped just as these men are almost there. Friberg reminds us that power and greed lead to disorder and unpredictable conditions. To keep afloat, selfishness and greed should be abandoned. In Blown Out (1999), a surfer floats to keep alive. Like the ocean of milk churned by sea gods and demons, the angry waves are ready to drag the helpless swimmer down under. The struggle between man and nature seems eternal as the video repeats itself endlessly. The moment before a beautiful death elevates the soul to paradise, but less dramatic than flying a plane full of passengers into the symbol of American capitalism and utopia. We are all in search of paradise. At times, we know that paradise comes at a price. Beyond Paradise: Nordic Artists Travel East is one attempt to look at the other side. But let us not forget that it is not where we go but how we feel that matters. When we manage to find the ultimate moment, that is to say, to discover our true selves. Paradise can be found anywhere.