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MADE AT KUVA – moving image from Helsinki

Curated by Caspar Stracke, Helsinki

A note from the curator:

When thinking of Finnish culture, moving image arts in particular, one should avoid thinking of melancholia, or silence, or darkness, or the forest, and definitely not of ultra-dry humor.

Everything else is very much preferred. Despite any undeniable pre-conceptions of Finnish moving image art, this program invites viewers to discover a Finnish cultural identity that defined itself in-between the prevalent set of century-old clichés, situated among such large topics as narrativity, affect, and the sublime. These aspects reverberate in this collection of such contrasting films as a documentary of blind people in a ultra-gentrified Helsinki neighborhood (Anu Pennanen) and performative interventions in a traditional cultural rituals (Pilvi Takala).

The commonality amongst the films of this program is the place of the program’s production: Kuva is the short form of “Kuvataideakatemia,” the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. Since 2012 I have taught the moving image as part of the Academy’s Time and Space Arts program – an employment that made me move from New York to the miraculous, wonderful Helsinki.

This program is a small part of a larger research project and screening series at Kuva. The selected work shown here spans over the past three decades, and includes work by artists who have studied at and/or graduated from the academy, such as internationally-recognized alumni Eija-Liisa Ahtila and Salla Tykkää. This concept offers a rare look at the very first works by some of Finland’s most sophisticated moving image artists. It is especially attractive to a foreign audience to study the creative origins of Ahtila and Tykkää, and to recognize their (and others’) early emerging artistic signatures.

PROGRAM:

Animal Experiment A/1, Sami van Ingen (1990)

Power, Salla Tykkää (1999)

Popcorn, Liisa Lounilla (2001)

Reverse Engineering, Jaakko Palasvuo (2013)

A Monument for the Invisible, Anu Pennanen (2003)

Contrapuntal, Jani Ruscica (2005)

Wall Flower, Pilvi Takala (2006)

Me/We, OKAY, GRAY, Eija-Liisa Ahtila (1993)

TRT: 78 minutes

This program was compiled with the generous help of AV-Arkki, Finland’s Media Art distribution center. Special thanks to its director, Hanna Maria Anttila.

The Finnish Academy of Fine arts is part of Helsinki’s newly formed University of Arts.