EMMA opens to the public on 2 June. EMMA is Finland’s largest art museum by surface area, with plenty of safe space for enjoying art. The safety of visitors and employees has been considered in several ways. The staff will provide guidance on and supervise safe and cautious movement in the museum. The exhibition centre’s ticket sales, restaurant and EMMA shop will include Plexiglass shields for visitors’ and employees’ protection. Hand sanitiser is made available in the lobby as well as the exhibition space, and particular attention is paid to maintaining clean surfaces. The situation regarding coronavirus will be monitored continuously. When necessary, changes will be made to the measures and programme.

Upon its opening, the museum will provide music to accompany the visual arts experience during the first two weekends (5–7 June and 12–14 June). Musician Anna Mantere is set to move around the exhibition space while playing atmospheric tunes with the oboe, covering key classical pieces to film music. Inspiration has been drawn from Saastamoinen Foundation’s collection exhibition Touch.

Changes to EMMA’s programme

The solo exhibition of internationally acclaimed Tacita Dean will be extended over the summer until 2 August. The exhibition showcases central works from Dean’s career. It marks the premiere of a new film piece called A Cloud makes itself, along with the first display of a unique work Pantone Pairs, built around 80 found postcards. Due to the change, the solo exhibition by Aaron Heino, who is a recipient of the Fine Arts Academy of Finland Prize, will be postponed and opens in EMMA on 17 February 2021.

The Michael Schilkin feat. Lotta Mattila exhibition displays animal figures by ceramic artist Michael Schilkin (1900–1962). The exhibition opens to visitors on the museum’s opening day of 2 June in the space next to Bryk & Wirkkala Visible Storage. The exhibition brings together animal figures by modernist Schilkin and contemporary artist Lotta Mattila in an environment designed by Mattila.

IC-98’s new work Theses on the Body Politic (Bind) will be on display as part of the Touch exhibition showcasing the art collection of Saastamoinen Foundation during 4 August–27 September 2020. An exhibition by Eeva-Leena Eklund opens on 28 October and continues the collaboration between Saastamoinen Foundation and EMMA, which has previously included exhibitions by Alicja Kwade and Tatsuo Miyajima. Simultaneously, a new section exploring human and nature will open as part of the Touch exhibition, and the media room will premiere the work Biblion by Saara Ekström and Eero Tammi.

The main fall exhibition by Elmgreen & Dragset opens a week later than planned, on 3 October. The world-famous duo, celebrating its 25th artist anniversary, is creating a site-specific installation that will also include a selection of their works spanning the artist duo’s career. Painting Machine, a joint performative exhibition by Leena and Kalle Nio set for the fall will be postponed for a year and opens in the fall of 2021.

EMMA’s climate theme will be continued until the end of 2020. The collaborative initiative by Nina Backman called One Million Trees, originally planned for the spring, is arranged during the weekend of Espoo Day 28–30 August in collaboration with Exhibition Centre WeeGee and the City of Espoo. The Children’s Museum Festival has also been moved from the spring season to the fall. The two-day event, which is themed Space Odyssey 2020, will take place during 24–25 October. The festival programme will follow the original one: the festival stage will see Sisidisko, led by Vuokko Hovatta and Kalle Chydenius, as well as ventriloquist Sari Aalto’s Cosmic Show.