calendario eventi  :: 

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12/10/2006

Four Exhibitions

EMMA - Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Helsinki

Kazimir Malevich


Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) was a major art reformer and theorist of the 20th century and the developer of geometric abstractism. Malevich was born near Kiev, but at the beginning of the 20th century, moved to Moscow, then in the throes of violent upheaval, where he soon became the leader of the Russian avant-garde. Like other artists Malevich was interested in the new trends in continental art, initially in Symbolism, Neo.Impressionism, later in Fauvism- and Expressionism-inspired Primitivism and finally, at the beginning of the 1910s, in Futurism, Cubism and Cubo-Futurism.


In September 1913 Malevich first created his black square for the futurist opera Victory over the Sun. Soon to become a concept the black square marked a turning point in Malevich’s art, the birth of Suprematism. For Malevich, Suprematism signified a broad philosophical-artistic theory through which he wished to find completely new norms for art. Art’s task was to go beyond three-dimensional truth and express a spiritually higher level of knowledge, a fourth dimension. Geometric primary forms and strong primary colours became the starting points for his art. The square was the most important form, a philosophical symbol in which the surface and colours of the painting formed strong energy planes.

In the 1920s Malevich devoted himself to teaching and writing and became particularly interested in architecture and design. He turned to painting again at the end of the 1920s. Malevich’s version of Suprematism can be seen in the weightlessness of his figures, simplified forms and bold colours. His idealised portraits represent universal archetypes acceptable to official Soviet art.

Malevich’s art and thinking personify contemporary efforts to find new spiritual dimensions for space as well as for the mysteries of the mind. In Suprematism he sought to find a link between both of these and to create through his art a contact with the ultimate, the highest level of consciousness. His far-reaching achievement led to unimaginable possibilities: and, for example, Minimalism and Conceptualism are offspring of Suprematism.


EMMA’s exhibition, comprising more than one hundred works, presents a versatile overview of Malevich’s oeuvre which covered many fields. The exhibition, which is the largest of its kind ever to be shown in the Nordic region, contains many rare works as well as works on public display for the first time.

Besides key works of Suprematism - several versions of the black square - the exhibition broadens our knowledge of Malevich by showing paintings spanning almost thirty years. Besides paintings and drawings architectons are shown, small three-dimensional plaster structures and architectural sketches, which present the artist’s vision of urban space of the future, a socialist Utopia. The exhibition also contains Malevich’s futurist book illustrations and costume designs for the opera Victory over the Sun, as well as actual versions of the costumes. On show too are dishes designed by Malevich, photographs and documents.

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Knave of Diamonds




The Knave of Diamonds was an avant-garde artist group founded in Russia in 1910. The birth of the group was linked with Primitivism which emerged in western art at the beginning of the 20th century from which a new dynamism was sought for art. At that time Russia too displayed a strong interest in foreign cultures. However, Russian avant-garde artists also began to seek their inspiration closer to home, in Russian folk culture as a counter-measure to western Modernism. The Russian word for “knave" signifies both the playing card figure and rogue. The unusuall name was intended as an ironical comment on the traditionally romantic names of artist groups as well as on chauvinist ideas of art.

During the 1910s almost all Moscow’s avant-garde artists became members of the Knave of Diamonds. The composition of the group changed several times and foreign artists too participated in exhibitions. The nucleus of the group, however, remained true to its objectives throughout the decade.


The aim of the Knave of Diamonds artists was to return to the roots of Russian folk art, to originality and “ignorance". Their enthusiasm lay in the unadorned forms of folk art, a simplified language of form, ornamentation and bold colours. The group’s paintings were true-to-life, colourful and powerful. They exuded emotion and frequently humour as well as a directness coloured by irony. In their paintings the artists wanted to combine the unusual - to experiment and seek new limitations, what could and could not be done.

Participants in the group’s exhibitions included artists who diverged from its original folk-oriented line, foreign avant-garde artists as well as Russian Futurists, Cubofuturists and Suprematists. During the 1910s the Knave of Diamonds was a loosely-knit and open umbrella organisation sheltering vastly differing Russian avant-garde trends.
Vanguard of Art and the Russian people

The Knave of Diamonds exhibition comprises more than 50 paintings by 14 artists. One third of the works are by the founders of the group, Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova. Other artists are David Burliuk, Alexandra Exter, Robert Falk, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Alexander Kuprin, Aristarkh Lentulov, Kazimir Malevich, Ilya Mashkov, Alexander Osmerkin, Lyubov Popova, Olga Rozanova and Vasily Rozhdestvensky. Also on exhibition are avant-garde book illustrations by Olga Rozanova on loan from the Slavic library collection of the National Library.

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Shirin Neshat




Shirin Neshat (born 1957) grew up in Iran but moved to California in 1974. She did not return to Iran until 1990 by which time Iran had become an Islamic republic. A revolution had taken place in the country and the impact this had had on the life of women in particular greatly affected Neshat’s art. Today Shirin Neshat lives and works in New York.


The central theme of Shiran Neshat’s work is Islam and the position of women in Islamic society. In her art she treats serious issues, which in the diaspora an artist living between two cultures confronts - exile, repression, the role and identity of women. Neshat began by photographing political subjects in black and white. In her well-known photographic series Women of Allah (1993-1997) she studied different philosophical and ideological themes raised by the Islamic revolution. Neshat herself put on the black chador and photographed herself in different female roles - martyr, soldier, wife, mother. On the skin left bare in the photographs by the chador she inscribed Pharsee calligraphic texts.

Since the end of the 1990s the moving picture has played an increasingly important role in Shiran Neshat’s art. In her video works she combines the themes of her earlier photographs. The works Turbulent and Rapture treat the dynamics between Iranian men and women. The works are two-channel video projections built on the dualism characteristic of Neshat’s work; man/woman, black/white and are shown on two opposite screens. Passage is a one-channel video work built on powerful colour contrasts and was carried out in co-operation with the American composer Philip Glass. In the work the artist ponders the theme of death and associated rituals such as burial and the funeral procession. Life and experience are important aspects of Shiran Neshat’s work.

The aesthetic language used by Neshat is characterised by combining old and new. Since 2003 she has been working on a five-part film video series based on Sharnush Parispur’s surrealist short story collection Women without Men (1989). The book follows the story of five women who leave their former problem-fraught lives and end up in the same garden. To date the parts Mahdokht and Zarin have been finished. The works differ from Neshat’s earlier works in that they are narrative, with spoken dialogue, stories with a magical realism.

Shiran Neshat is one of the foremost women artists of our time and the winner of many international awards. At the time of Emma’s opening, 12,10,2006, she will receive with the Lilian Gish award in New York.

Secret of the veil

Emma’s inaugural exhibition provides the first opportunity to see Shiran Neshat’s work in Finland. The exhibition presents the video works Turbulent (1998), Rapture (1999), Passage (2001) Mahdokt (2004) and Zarin (2005) as well as photograph series.

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Timo Kelaranta


Timo Kelaranta is a 55-year old Espoo artist whose photographic work has been exhibited since the mid-1970s. Kelaranta’s works are in several collections including those of the City of Espoo, Kiasma, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and the Biblothe'que Nationale in Paris. Kelaranta was Professor of Photography at the Helsinki University of Art and Design in 1992-94 and 1999-2001.

Timo Kelaranta’s work is characterised by quiet, personal experience and a powerful,restrained language. Kelaranta enjoys photographing in large cities and in recent years has worked in Athens (2002) and Seoul (2006). He himself lists his favourite subjects as the seashore, demolished housing areas and urban office buildings. His works always deal with space and the issues space raises. In recent years the written word has assumed an increasing importance for Kelaranta and in his photographs this is seen in the combination of words and images. Images have names and the name and the image are inseparable elements.

The Quiets

EMMA’s exhibition The Quiets comprises 40 photographs, most of which were taken during the past five years. Several of the photographs were taken in South Korea where Kelaranta spent three months last spring under the auspices of the Helsinki International Photographer in Residence programme.

October, 13, 2006

Emma - Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Ahertajantie 5 - Tapiola
Open from 13.10.2006 / Tue. 11.00 - 18.00, Wed.-Thurs. 11.00-20.00, Fri.-Sun. 11.00-18.00, Mon. closed

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