Alien in Me explores experiences of alienation and otherness in a world undergoing constant transformation. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on how our understanding of ourselves and our surroundings is formed, and how these processes can at times create distance between individuals. Feelings of estrangement may also emerge from within, shaped by experiences such as displacement, migration, or the transition from one environment to another. 

Within the exhibition, alienation and the perspective of the outsider are approached as possibilities for reimagining the world and its structures. Boundaries once perceived as stable—between human and non-human, body and machine, gender identities, and cultural or linguistic belonging—appear increasingly fluid and interconnected. Central to the exhibition are encounters and relationships: our layered connections to cultures, landscapes, places, and technologies, as well as to other people, bodies, and non-human beings. 

Curated by EMMA’s Director Krist Gruijthuijsen, this newly conceived exhibition from the Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection forms part of EMMA’s 20th anniversary programme in 2026. It celebrates the longstanding collaboration between EMMA and the Saastamoinen Foundation, the museum’s founding partner. The presentation brings together recent acquisitions alongside earlier works from the collection, including several pieces exhibited publicly for the first time. In total, the exhibition features works by over 50 artists. The first EMMA-Saastamoinen Curatorial Fellow Shohreh Shakoory did research for the exhibition and wrote an essay to be found here.