Cabinet No 7: Mika Taanila | The Earth Who Fell to Man

The solo show presents a a video installation entitled The Earth Who Fell to Man with an accompanying cut-out book piece by the Helsinki-based artist and film maker, who is currently on show in the the Nordic Pavilion at the 57th International Art Exhibition, the Venice Biennale. The presented work can be defined as a sequel to the artist’s reductionist film and sound pieces.

The focal point of his artistic practice are the topics of archives, memory, media obsoleteness and archeology of the future. Working in film and video editing for 30 years, he successfully challenges the connection between art, photography and cinema.

His pieces often included footage he found during his researches. In the presented video installation, the footage he uses features shots from Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 film starring David Bowie, yet without any recognizable human resemblance. With the eradication of human form Taanila transforms the film into a ‘deleted narrative’. In the background, landscapes, buildings, roads, sky and the earth are running in total disarray. The key element however as mankind, or in this case the iconic embodiment of David Bowie as alien Thomas Jerome Newton, is systematically deleted.