
Mika Taanila’s Thank You for The Music – A Film about Muzak (1997) will be screened from 25-30.11 at Tabakalera Center for Contemporary Culture in San Sebastián, as part of the programme Emotional.
Around 160 million people around the world listen to anonymous environmental music, that is, music, every day. Muzak is music of urban origin, “scientifically researched”. It has a schizophrenic function: it must go unnoticed and be as discreet as possible. It should also be a stimulant for both employee and customer action. This kind of music is meant to be heard inadvertently, and not to listen carefully. The movie is similar in style to music. It combines and mixes different types of material (film, video, computer animation, etc.) to emphasize that music has an Esperanto-like nature. There is no written story: music plays a leading role in the film. In fact, many scenes are minimalist music videos. The visual appeal is faithful to the musical spirit of the music, ironically surreal and sterile.
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.
Emotional – Emilio Moreno’s project at Tabakalera Centre for Contemporary Culture, November 25-30 2019, San Sebastián
More information: Emotional at Tabakalera Centre for Contemporary Culture