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Mika Taanila | The Earth Who Fell to Man
Exhibition
Mika Taanila | The Earth Who Fell To Man
5 May 2017 – 16 Jul 2017
Address
- Wallstrasse 10
- Basel
Basel-Stadt - 4051
- Switzerland
Balzer Projects is pleased to present a small solo show of Taanila’s most recent projects, a video installation entitled The Earth Who Fell to Man. with an accompanying cut-out book piece.
About
Archives, memory, media obsoleteness and archeology of the future are at the core of Mika Taanila‘s oeuvre. He successfully challenges points of connection between art, photography and cinema. As part of his artistic practice, he has been working in film and video editing (both analogue and digital) for 30 years. Many titles in Taanila’s filmography are based on archival and found-footage.
The exhibition coincides with art events, such as the Venice Biennale (13.May – 26.Nov), ART Basel week (12.-18.June) and Bildrausch Filmfest Basel (21.-25.June). Taanila has been selected as one of six artists in the Nordic Pavilion at the 57th Biennale (Curator: Mats Stjernstedt, Moderna Museet, Stockholm). One of his most recent experimental films, entitled Branches, was selected for the International Competition of the 63. Oberhausen Kurzfilmtage (11.-16.May). On view at TAPE Basel (12.-17.June) will be The Earth Who Fell to Man.
The video installation The Earth Who Fell to Man is a sequel to Taanila’s reductionist film and sound pieces, such as My Silence from 2013. The elimination of the core of the film, the eradication of human form, transforms the film into a ‘deleted narrative’. The piece features shots from Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 film starring David Bowie, yet without any recognizable human resemblance. Merely landscapes, building, backdrops, roads, sky and the earth are running in total disarray. The key element: mankind, or in this case the iconic embodiment of David Bowie as alien Thomas Jerome Newton, is systematically deleted. The shots are running upside down on screen and are enhanced with the acoustical accompaniment of earthquakes, falling rocks and landslides. The Earth (as the title suggests) seems to be falling to Man.
On view in the exhibition will also be new accompanying miniature book piece by Taanila, based on a copy of the original novel, The Man Who Fell to Earth.
