Espoo Museum of Modern Art
EMMA is proud to present the Finnish debut of Pilvi Takala’s video installation Close Watch
Pilvi Takala’s Close Watch (2022) takes a critical look at how power is exercised in public spaces through the private security industry. Premiered at the 59th Venice Biennale at the Pavilion of Finland, the video work now returns to the Finnish context where the work and its research originally emerged. At EMMA, Close Watch will be presented in a new display responding to the museum’s architecture, and the exhibition will be accompanied by an indepth public programme. The exhibition is a part of InCollection series of collaborative exhibitions between EMMA and Saastamoinen Foundation.
Pilvi Takala is an internationally acclaimed Finnish artist who through her art examines various communities, work cultures and the implicit rules they conform to. Close Watch is based on Takala’s experiences during her employment and research while working covertly for Securitas as a fully qualified security guard in one of Finland’s largest shopping malls. The videos were filmed at a three-day workshop organized by Takala in which she and her ex-colleagues address issues of racism, violence, and toxic behaviour that she has encountered in the workplace. The recent shocking events in the security industry and the discussion around it have made Takala’s work even more relevant. The exhibition curated by Christina Li is on view in EMMA from 1 February to 7 May 2023.
At EMMA, the site-specific multi-channel installation divides the space into two interrelated presentations in which the watcher and the watched are immersed in an active field of relations. Close Watch provides a platform for the guards, and by extension for all of us, to consider one’s position and ethics, as well as alternative tactics, when exerting authority in their field and society at large.
The public programme of Close Watch will form an integral part of the exhibition, offering audiences a space for reflection and an engaging opportunity to explore the themes of power and safety in our everyday life and in our society at large. The programme consists of three EMMA Talks events that will explore the topics of the work from various perspectives. Further extending the discussions the work has generated, EMMA Talks: Whose safety? will bring in dialogue various stakeholders to unpack the code of conduct as well as the responsibilities of security organisations and personnel who enforce control in the name of public good.
EMMA Talks: Whose safety?
Increasingly, the private security industry plays a crucial role in upholding public order and defining what safety means in our society. In this discussion, various experts will address the way in which the industry creates unsafe environments, changes that have been implemented in security organizations to tackle this.
Close Watch is a part of InCollection series of collaborative exhibitions co-produced by EMMA and Saastamoinen Foundation. Takala is the fifth artist to be featured in this invitational series, in which a new piece is commissioned annually from a visionary contemporary artist. Through InCollection, Saastamoinen Foundation develops its permanent collection.
Saastamoinen Foundation’s permanent collection is on view in EMMA’s Touch exhibition with regularly changing displays. Short film The Lonely Villa by Jesper Just will be showcased in the media space of Touch from 1 February to 28 May. The video work examines minority cultures, gender stereotypes and inter-generational relationships. In the short film, the main protagonists converse by singing to each other over the telephone, with the lyrics indirectly hinting at the emotions unfolding between them.
