Tacita Dean

The main exhibition at EMMA showcases key works from the career of Tacita Dean, one of the internationally most prestigious contemporary artists of today. Some of the works in Dean’s first-ever solo exhibition in Finland receive their debut at EMMA, including Dean’s latest film, A Cloud makes itself. EMMA is now reopened and the show is extended until August 2, 2020. 

Tacita Dean (b. 1965) is one of the most highly acclaimed contemporary artists of our day. She is known best for films shot on 16mm and 35mm and her work for the preservation of analogue film. She also creates large, spatially engaging chalkboard drawings as well as works on slate, photographs, print images and works made with found materials. 

The exhibition, curated by EMMA’s director Pilvi Kalhama, borrows from Dean’s existing body of work, in addition to which the artist has created several new pieces for this show. The show features recent key works in which Dean explores portraiture, painting, the ephemerality of natural events and the layers of time. Dean, a champion of slowness and concentration, draws attention to details and encourages us to stop and observe the world. The exhibition rewards the viewer who is prepared to give time to the works. 

The exhibition includes seven films, the latest of which, A Cloud makes itself, receives its premiere at EMMA. The works featured in the exhibition include Dean’s ambitious chalkboard drawing Chalk Fall (2018), her recent series of 80 monoprints on found postcards, Pantone Pairs (2019), displayed for the first time at EMMA and two works from the Saastamoinen Foundation ́s art collection, Quatemary and A Book End of Time. 

An artist interview, where Tacita Dean talks about her works and the exhibition is now available on EMMA’s website.

Tacita Dean describes herself as a British European artist and divides her time between Berlin and Los Angeles. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1998 and later was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize in 2006 and the Kurt Schwitters Prize in 2009. In 2018, three London museums, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts presented an unprecedented collaboration that consisted of three distinct exhibitions by Tacita Dean, entitled LANDSCAPE, PORTRAIT, STILL LIFE. Dean’s designs for The Dante Project, a new ballet choreographed by Wayne McGregor and composed by Thomas Adès, will premiere in May at the Royal Opera House in London. 

More information 
Pilvi Kalhama, Museum Director: T +358405334070 / pilvi.kalhama [​at​] emmamuseum.fi 
Asta Teräväinen, Marketing Communications Designer: T +358 447601930 / asta.teravainen [​at​] emmamuseum.fi