Alicja Kwade’s exhibition Trans-For-Men kicks off a new form of collaboration between EMMA and the Saastamoinen Foundation. Every year, a new work will be commissioned for the Foundation’s collections from a topically relevant contemporary artist. A curated exhibition will be organized in conjunction with the commission to shed further light on the artist’s current practice.
Alicja Kwade tailored her exhibition to interact with EMMA’s unique architecture. The five installations all somehow portray motion and metamorphosis engaging in an intriguing dialogue with the museum’s interior spaces and surrounding scenery. Kwade drew inspiration to her new works from the concrete brutalism of EMMA’s architecture and the building’s history as a printing house, particularly the vision of heavy printing machines and giant rolls of paper that once filled the gallery spaces.
The five sculptural installations in the exhibition undergo a gradual process of transformation, taking the visitor on a journey through time and space. Kwade’s works reflects on the interaction of people and nature, as well as on our relationship with the natural world as a broader philosophical question. Her art challenges our perceptions and understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. What makes things what they are—or could everything be totally different?
