EIJA-LIISA AHTILA: EARLY WORKS

Screened:
FRI 23/10, 19:00 SLOTTS

Tickets

Living and working in Helsinki, Eija-Liisa Ahtila is one of the Nordic region’s most internationally acclaimed contemporary artists. Since emerging to international prominence in the 1990s, Ahtila has been a pioneering figure in the development of moving-image art and cinematic installation. This programme presents a selection of her groundbreaking and widely acclaimed short films from this period. Ahtila’s work explores and challenges the narrative language of cinema, its conventions and habitual modes of perception. Her films have been described as human dramas centred on personal relationships, yet they simultaneously unsettle conventional forms of cinematic storytelling and representation. The result is a body of psychologically charged and deeply subjective character studies. Ahtila is interested in how our experience of the world is shaped—and at the same time limited—by sensory perception. Her films therefore become compelling investigations of distance and dislocation in time and space, altered states of consciousness, and shifting identities. She explores how images and narratives are constructed, and how space and time interact to shape our perception and understanding. By expanding the language of film and challenging established ways of seeing and making sense of reality, Ahtila creates complex, multilayered worlds in which different perspectives and temporalities coexist.

Over the course of her career, Eija-Liisa Ahtila has participated in numerous leading international art biennials and has been represented in exhibitions and collections around the world. Her contribution to the development of contemporary moving-image art has been profound and influential.

Eija-Liisa Ahtila will be present at the screening to speak about her films and artistic practice.

The screening is presented in collaboration with Uppsala Art Museum, in conjunction with the exhibition A Possible Image – of what is just becoming reality.

ME/WE, OKAY, GRAY

Three 90-second episodes explore questions of identity and group relations through use of narrative conventions derived from film, television and advertising. They adopt the sharp editing and quick dialogues that we associate with commercials but, disconcertingly, they explore complex and confusing issues and unlike advertisements, they offer no simple message.

Finland 1993 / 4:30 / Director: Eija-Liisa Ahtila

JOS 6 OLIS 9 (IF 6 WAS 9)

If 6 was 9 is a short film and an installation about teenage girls and sexuality. It is based on research and real events, but the story itself and the dialogues are a fictional combination of various elements. The episodes depict events in the daily lives of teenagers and scenes from their hometown, Helsinki. The girls chat amongst themselves and speak directly to the camera, sharing their experiences and thoughts on sex.

Finland 1995 / 10:45 / Director: Eija-Liisa Ahtila

TÄNÄÄN (TODAY)

Today is a short film and installation in three audiovisual episodes. The different episodes deal with the relationship between a father and a daughter, and the formation and shifts of personal identity within a family. One summer night, the grandfather dies in an accident. The event is seen from the viewpoint of each of the three different characters. The episodes are connected thematically, via the dialogue, the actors, and the visual and aural elements used. Together, these three parts form the story of the family members at different periods.

Finland 1996 / 9:31 / Director: Eija-Liisa Ahtila

LOHDUTUSSEREMONIA (CONSOLATION SERVICE)

Consolation Service is a short film and an installation. It deals with the themes of endings, death, and time from the point of view of a young woman. The work is about a young couple’s divorce process—the end of their story. It starts with some remarks by the narrator, which form a second level running through the narrative.

Finland 1999 / 23:50 / Director: Eija-Liisa Ahtila

RUKOUSHETKI (THE HOUR OF PRAYER)

This short tale about attachment and death is based on the artist’s own experiences. Via the events surrounding the death of a dog, it tells the story of death entering a house and the process of dealing with grief. These events begin in New York during a winter storm in January and end in Benin, West Africa, eleven months later.

Finland 2025 / 15:34 / Director: Eija-Liisa Ahtila

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