15/7/2004
Salla Tykka
Portikus, Frankfurt
Tykkä's trilogy CAVE consists of three short films, Lasso, Thriller and Cave, that were created between 2000 and 2003. The films, presented as a video installation at Portikus, each narrate a fictitious scene from the life of a young woman. They examine the coming-of-age and the transition from puberty to adulthood, as well as the psychological relation between the genders.
CAVE
Salla Tykkä's trilogy CAVE consists of three short films, Lasso, Thriller and Cave, that were created between 2000 and 2003. The films, presented as a video installation at Portikus, each narrate a fictitious scene from the life of a young woman. They examine the coming-of-age and the transition from puberty to adulthood, as well as the psychological relation between the genders. Although Tykkä uses a different actress in each film, one can assume that the entire trilogy follows the development of a single person.
All three films were shot as 35mm-films and they clearly reveal Salla Tykkä's interest in the narrative structures of cinema, in the filmic treatment of emotions and memories, tensions and clichés. The artist directly adopts stylistic elements and narrative motifs from classical film genres, such as western, thriller and science fiction. The precise use of music and sound plays a very specific role in Tykkä's dramaturgy. In her films, the artist succeeds in evoking a tension with the viewer that goes beyond what is actually depicted by employing familiar film scores, such as
Ennio Morricone's composition for Once Upon a Time in the West in Lasso or John Carpenter's motif for Halloween in Thriller. On the one hand, Tykkä's films are captivating due to their beauty, while on the other, their complexity resists conveying an unambiguous message. The trilogy functions as a series of intense and condensed stories that confront the viewer with his or her own perception, which is guided by fears and longing, one's own knowledge and personal memories.
Salla Tykkä (born in 1973) lives and works in Helsinki / Finland.
Opening on Friday, July 16, 2004, at 8 p.m.
In the exhibition, the films will be shown in the following sequence:
Lasso
2000, 35mm-film, scanned to video, 3:48 min
Thriller
2001, 35mm-film, scanned to video, 6:50 min
Cave
2003, 35mm-film, scanned to video, 10:00 min
Supported by
Kultur-Stiftung der Deutschen Bank
Portikus
Schoene Aussicht 2 D-60311
Frankfurt