From BFF catalogue 2003, by Prof. Manfred Schmalriede (excerpt)

Is there a possible form of the past? In his work ‘The Dodo and Mauritius Island, Imaginary Encounters’, the Finn Harri Kallio employs photography in order to invent the past. The reconstruction of the past takes place in language, in pictures and by using pictures and installations. In natural history museums we encounter presentations of animals and plants which no longer exist. Harri Kallio reconstructed a bird, the dodo, which became extinct in the 17th century.

He took two models of this bird to their former habitat in Mauritius and recreated scenes which make the bird appear real in these surroundings. The illusionary beguiling is perfect and it is only the knowledge that this bird was extinct before photography was even invented that irritates the observer for a moment. But even if this deception is detected, one is not actually disappointed but pleased at the successful action. In perceiving we are unable to discern between deception and reality. This means that photographs are real, but it does not mean that a photograph cannot deceive. It is the context which is decisive here. If the content of a text can be made to agree with the image depicted in the photograph, there is no reason for doubt. The picture titles create, together with the pictures, absolutely ideal preconditions for constructing knowledge.

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