Eeva-Mari Haikala, from 'Still'.
From 'Tableaux vivant'.
In her series 'Tableaux vivant', videos presenting characters gently acting out very simple, rather ordinary actions, Finnish artist Eeva-Mari Haikala remarkably explores the subtle connections and potential of performance within the mirror of filmic composition. Premiering a new film and a series of large format photographs that she produced during a three month residency earlier this year, Haikala's solo show at Spacex is a great chance to explore how a sense of stillness often may heighten our understanding of motion, and more broadly speaking, of these two sides of time.
In some of her previous work, Haikala (b. 1974, Lappeenranta, Finland, lives and works in Helsinki, trained at the Estonian Academy of Arts and later at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki) opens a visual conversation with the logic and manipulation of temporal language, utilising a scripted, uninterrupted flow of basic action - a woman holding a pose in front of a camera - to create a kind of self-consciousness about how, and not why, everything is happening, an appreciation of feelings rather than of assumed narrative.
The open, inconclusive nature of painting and the alluring verisimilitude of photography both lurk within these moving canvases. 'I am interested in using images to produce performances and on the interrelationships between different disciplines of art', the artist explains. All of these films are 3,20 min, a length dictated by their medium, Super 8, which has later been transferred to dvd. Tellingly, the 'Tableaux vivant' series is entirely silent, an element that allows the viewer to focus fully on the relationship between methods, say, film and performance, rather than between the senses.
Haikala has two projects coming up in 2008, a solo exhibition at Turku Art Museum Media Space and a collaboration with Finnish, Estonian and English artists that will take place jointly in Helsinki, Tallin, and Manchester. Have a look at her well-illustrated site for more updates.
Lupe Nunez-Fernandez
EEVA-MARI HAIKALA, 'STILL'
To 22 Sept 2007
Spacex
45 Preston Street
Exeter EX1 1DF
T: +44 (0)1392 431786
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