An extensive survey of work by Mika Taanila takes place at various cultural venues in London from October 16–22. Curated by Stanley Schtinter, an independent curator and filmmaker, the programme is the most complete international survey of Taanila’s practice to date.
The launch event of the core programme is the “Nuclear Renaissance” in the Institute of Contemporary Arts on Thursday, October 19 at 20:00. The screening of the feature-length documentary film Return of the Atom (2015) by Taanila and Jussi Eerola is followed by short films Man and Science (2011) and The Zone of Total Eclipse (2006). The screening will be followed by a wide-ranging debate between the director, Mika Taanila, and curatorial researcher in Nuclear Culture, Dr Ele Carpenter.
Taanila: The Zone of Total Eclipse (2006)
Friday, October 20 marks the debut performance of Pakasteet, a new collaboration between Mika Taanila and Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle), featuring Charles Hayward (This Heat), and a performance by Bruce Gilbert (Wire) and Patchfinder DJ. The supporting programme of Taanila’s films consists of an early mail-art piece I Like This Silence (1989) and music videos for Swissair and Circle.
Taanila: Circle: Back to Pori (1999)
The screening “Film After Film (Ceaseless Motion is Followed by Inexorable Darkness)” takes place in Whitechapel Gallery on Saturday, October 21 at 12:00. The bulk of Taanila’s moving image work shown together for the first time, in a showcase featuring novelist and filmmaker Chris Petit in a conversation moderated by Olaf Möller. Introduction by Gareth Evans, curator of the moving image at Whitechapel Gallery.
Taanila: Branches (2017)
Close-Up Film Centre is the venue for the double bill screening Electric Forest + Museum Planet on Sunday, October 22. At 18:00, Close-Up presents a rare opportunity to experience Finnish experimental films as selected and introduced by Taanila. The screening of Futuro – A New Stance for Tomorrow (1998), The Future Is Not What It Used to Be (2002), and Sommerreise (2006) at 20:00 is followed by Mika Taanila in conversation with Maria Palacios Cruz.
Taanila: Futuro – A New Stance for Tomorrow (1998)
The parallel programme includes online installation of Thank You for the Muzak on nts.live, a foyer installation of My Silence at Leman Locke and listening screens at Close-Up Film Centre including unheard film music by Mika Vainio and a collage of unheard music and cassette diaries by Erkki Kurenniemi, selected and mixed by Mika Taanila.
Mika Taanila (s. 1965) is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Helsinki, Finland. He works with documentaries, experimental film and visual arts. Human engineering, utopias, failures and man-machines are recurring themes in his films and installations. Taanila’s works have been shown at major international group shows, such as Venice Biennale (Nordic Pavilion 2017), Aichi Triennale (2013), dOCUMENTA (2012), Shanghai Biennale (2006), Berlin Biennale (2004), Manifesta (2002) and Istanbul Biennial (2001). Solo shows include the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki (2013–14), Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2013), TENT, Rotterdam (2013) and Galleria Heino, Helsinki (2010). Taanila’s short films have been screened altogether at more than 300 international film festivals and special events. In 2015, Taanila was awarded with the prestigious Ars Fennica Award, the biggest Finnish art award.
Seismic Ooze is presented by purge.xxx in association with The Wire magazine and LUX and in collaboration with AV-arkki, balzer projects, Frame Finland, TelepART, Kinotar, AVEK Foundation, The Finnish Film Foundation and the Finnish Institute in London.
Seismic Ooze – A Survey of Work by Mika Taanila, 16.–22.10.2017 in London
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