End of Euphoria

A crashed car was carefully painted entirely in glossy white and placed in a parking lot surrounded by ordinary parked cars with other cars and people passing by. The installation End of Euphoria was placed in the centre of Turku for several weeks near the Market Square and Turku administration building Virastotalo as part of Arte R.Y. VIRASTO City Art Event 2003.

The car was often filled with empty bottles, especially at night. Perhaps at night, the installation was used as a hangout space.

After yet another road fatality I wanted to create a piece of work that would shock. By showing this mutilated car in its former surroundings, I hoped to open up a dialogue on traffic culture. I wanted to raise a discussion about egoism on the streets; about careless and unnecessary speeding; about the needless death of especially young men in these accidents. I wanted to draw attention to the communal use of public space. Inside a vehicle, one might think of it as a private space – when there are only a few millimetres separating the public and the private. There might just be a fleeting moment between the euphoria of driving and the end of it.

Please note: The car used for End of Euphoria had not been involved in a serious accident, and was specifically deformed by my team.