For this special event, the internationally renowned Finnish artist Pilvi Takala will travel to Cornwall to talk about her work. The special evening with will include the presentation of an early slide work, Bag Lady, and the screening of two short films, followed by an ‘in conversation’ and Q&A.
The programme includes: Real Snow White, 2009, (9:19) which exposes the absurd logic of ‘real character’ within the extremely regulated construct of Disneyland, when Takala is banned from entering the park in a Snow White costume; Players, 2010, (7:52) a portrayal of six poker professionals in Bangkok, who follow the logic of the game in their everyday lives to ensure that they treat each other justly and contribute equally; Workers’ Forum , 2015, (6:23) an animated message conversation, the idea for which developed from Takala’s experience working for a service where users pay to have a pretend girlfriend or boyfriend texting them; and The Stroker, 2019, (15:16) based on a two week-long intervention by Takala at a trendy East London co-working space for young entrepreneurs and startups, during which she posed as a wellness consultant named Nina Nieminen, providing touching services in the workplace.
Takala’s work stretches the limits of documentary making and performance with works that emerge out of time spent within a particular community. She uses performative interventions as a means to process social structures and question the normative rules and truths of our behaviour in different cultural contexts, showing that it is often possible to learn about the implicit rules of a social situation only by its disruption.
The film programme will be installed at CAST from 22 October to 10 November (except Saturday 26 October, when the screening space will be used for a family Think and Make workshop). Open: Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm, closed Mondays. Admission free, all welcome.
Born in Finland, Pilvi Takala lives and works in Berlin and Helsinki. She graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2006. Her solo exhibitions include Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm; Kunsthalle Erfurt; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; and Sorlandets Kunstmuseum, Norway. Her work has been shown at MoMA, PS1 and the New Museum in New York; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Kunsthalle Basel; Witte de With, Rotterdam; and the 9th Istanbul Biennial. Takala won the Dutch Prix de Rome in 2011 and the Emdash Award in 2013. The winning work was presented at the Frieze Art Fair in London. In 2013 she also won the Finnish State Prize for visual arts and was nominated for the Ars Fennica.
Pilvi Takala’s screenings and talk are presented at CAST with the generous support of the Finnish Institute in London