Readymades, Rejects and the Ready-to-Hand: Found Objects in the Films of Aki Kaurismäki

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article considers the role of found objects in the work of Finnish film maker Aki Kaurismäki. Acknowledging the legacy of such objects in 20th-century art and performance inaugurated by the “readymades” of Marcel Duchamp and Dadaism, this article focuses on the concept of Zuhandenheit (ready-to-hand), the meaningful employment of objects in relation to living in the world. Kaurismäki’s use of found objects, both within the diegesis of various films and in the making of the films themselves, is compared to the existential phenomenology of Martin Heidegger, specifically in relation to that philosopher’s concerns with how human beings “dwell” in post-World War II Europe. Kaurismäki has many connections with mid-century existentialism, and his creative employment of found objects in constructing his films creates a distinct cinematic realm frequently called “Aki-” or “Kaurismäki-land.” Found objects prove to be indispensable in creating the distinctive style of the films, serve as plot elements, furnish the mise-en-scène, provide material links between the various films, and, as in Zuhandenheit, are utilized to address Kaurismäki’s fundamental concerns with dwelling in the real world, as well as in Aki-land.