photo: Anders Sune Berg, courtesy of Kinotar Oy and Mika Taanila, The photo is taken at dOCUMENTA (13) in June 2012.
The Most Electrified Town in Finland
| Artist | Mika TAANILA |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004-2012 |
| Material/ Technique | 3 channel video with 5.1 ch. sound |
| Size/ Duration | 15 min. |
| Copyright Notice | Mika Taanila 2012 © Kinotar/Elotar |
| Year of acquisition/ donation | 2014（作品購入年月日：2014/3/6） |
| Description | Born in Helsinki, Finland in 1965. Lives and works there. After studying cultural anthropology at Helsinki University, Taanila created short films, video works, and photographs depicting scenes of a future that might be described as “techno-utopia,” moving back and forth between reality and fantasy. Because technology is at the epicenter of contemporary society, it has become a major theme of art during the process of modernization. Taanila’s works contain factual information that is not connected to a definite narrative, but he takes an experimental approach that could be described as creative documentation. Olkiluoto 3, a nuclear power plant being built on Olkiluoto Island in Eurajoki in southwestern Finland, has attracted attention as the first nuclear power facility to be constructed in Europe since the accident at Chernobyl. "The Most Electrified Town in Finland" is a video installation based on documentary footage of this construction project. The video projections on three screens juxtapose images of a gigantic building far beyond human scale, the natural scenery of northern Europe, and scenes of daily life. This combination of images creates an uncanny effect and reveals the reality of an unprecedented reduction in the scope of human existence. It shows how people are constrained by powers too great to be visualized and an extremely complex social structure, unable to escape from a disproportionate emphasis on efficiency and economic growth. It is significant that Taanila focuses on a nuclear power plant, a structure that symbolizes contemporary society. The sounds that reverberate through the room may cause the viewer to recall the oppressive conditions of early twenty-first-century Japan, site of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident in 2011. |
NOTES
This Collection Data page contains the works and materials in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as of April 1, 2018.
Artists are listed alphabetically by artist’s surname.
Works and materials by the same artists are listed according to the date of the work in principle.
Works whose dates are unidentified are listed at the end of each item. Some works are not listed according to the date of work due to their relations.
The data of works and materials are listed in order of title, production year, material/technique/form, dimensions, donor’s name, copyright holder and credit for photograph.
Dimensions are given by height (H) x width (W) in centimeters for plane work, and height (H) x width (W) x depth (D) in cm for 3-D work. Diameter (Ø) is used for circular work.
For the name of country or city, the name currently used in English is listed in principle.