Eija-Liisa Ahtila facts for kids

Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born in 1959 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a talented modern artist and filmmaker. She lives and works in Helsinki, Finland.

Ahtila is famous for her art that uses multiple screens to tell stories. She likes to try new ways of storytelling in her films and art setups. In her early works, she explored challenging human stories. These often focused on family relationships and how people deal with difficult feelings.

Later, her art started looking at bigger ideas. She explored how we see and understand the world around us. She also looked at important cultural themes, like how different cultures interact.

Ahtila has shown her art in many big international exhibitions. These include Manifesta (1998), the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2005), documenta 11 (2002), São Paulo Art Biennial (2008), and the Sydney Biennale in 2002 and 2018.

She has won several awards for her art and films. Some of these include the Vincent Award (2000) and Artes Mundi (2006). She also received the Prince Eugen Medal (2008) and was named an Art Academic in Finland (2009).

Her artworks are part of important collections. You can find them at the Tate museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. She also used to be a professor at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts (Finland).

Eija-Liisa Ahtila's Art Journey

Jane Philbrick, a writer for the journal PAJ, described Ahtila's films. She called them "Smart, emotionally arresting, engaging, affective." Philbrick also said Ahtila is a "teller of human dramas." She uses many modern art techniques to tell her stories.

Ahtila often uses a style similar to melodrama. This means she might make plots and characters seem bigger than life. This helps to make viewers feel strong emotions. Her goal is to connect with feelings rather than just ideas.

Early Works and Identity

In 1993, Ahtila made three short films. These were called Me/We, Okay, and Gray. Each film was only 90 seconds long. They were shown alone and together as a group of three.

These mini-films were even shown as trailers in cinemas. They also appeared on TV during commercials and in art galleries. Ahtila used ideas from film, TV, and advertising. She explored questions about who we are and how we fit into groups.

In Me/We, a father talks about his family. Other people in the film repeat his words. When he talks about their feelings, their personalities seem to blend together.

In Okay, a woman talks about violence in relationships. She moves like a trapped animal, and her voice shows strong emotion.

In Gray, three women are in a lift that goes into water. They talk about an atomic explosion and its effects. Words and images mix ideas of confusion about who you are with a big disaster.

Exploring Human Experience

In 2002, Ahtila created a film called The House. For this film, she talked to people who had certain mental health conditions. The film starts with a woman driving to a quiet house. As the story goes on, things start to feel like a dream.

Sounds become confusing, and images begin to mix. The woman might see a car on the walls of the house. She hears boat horns that don't make sense. This film is meant to be shown on three separate screens. This makes viewers feel like they are inside the house where the film was made.

In 2002, she had her own art show at Tate Modern. In 2006, her multi-screen video The Wind was shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). She has also had solo shows at other famous museums. These include the Guggenheim in Bilbao and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

Later Films and Deep Questions

One of Ahtila's important works is The Hour of Prayer. It was first shown in 2005 at the Venice Biennale in Italy. This film uses four video screens. It shows parts of a woman's experience after her dog dies.

A writer named Bridget Goodbody said the film shows "a nonnarrative cycle of apparently random, but nonetheless consequential scenes." Some scenes show the dog falling through ice and breaking its leg. Another scene shows the dog at the vet, where it is found to have cancer. After the dog passes away, the film shows the woman moving on with her life.

Another film, Where is Where?, came out in 2009. New York's Museum of Modern Art showed this film for seven days. They called it "a haunting and layered consideration of how history affects our perception of reality."

In the film, a poet from today's time investigates a murder from fifty years ago. A figure who represents death helps the poet. Two young boys had killed their friend during the Algerian War of Independence. As the poet investigates, images from the past and present mix together. At one point, the poet finds the two boys in a boat in a swimming pool.

In 2011, Ahtila's exhibition horizontal was first shown. This art piece uses six projections to show a pine tree. Each projection shows a different part of the tree. Ahtila changes the tree's look by tilting the camera and using different colors for each projection.

Ahtila's films often focus on one person's inner thoughts and feelings. Her work aims to understand how individuals experience the world. She explores how things around us shape who we are. She is very interested in how our personal identity is formed. She also looks at how much that identity can change. Ahtila wants to explore how our deeper thoughts and feelings are passed down. She gave an example: "how my mother is physically present in myself and I am present in her."

Eija-Liisa Ahtila's Artworks

Installations

• Me/We, Okay, Grey (1993), a three-screen art setup with furniture.
• If 6 was 9 (1995), a three-screen projected art setup.
• Today (1996), a three-screen projected art setup.
• Anne, Aki and God (1998), a five-monitor and two-screen setup with furniture.
• Consolation Service (1999), a two-screen projected art setup.
• The Present (2001), a five-monitor art setup with furniture.
• The House (2002), a three-screen projected art setup.
• The Wind (2002), a three-screen projected art setup.
• Sculpture in the Age of Posthumanism (2004), a sculpture that includes the person viewing it.
• The Hour of Prayer (2005), a four-screen projected art setup.
• Fishermen / Études N°1 (2007), a single-screen projected art setup.
• Where is Where? (2008), a six-screen projected art setup.
• The Annunciation (2010), a three-screen projected art setup.
• Horizontal (2011), a six-screen projected art setup.
• Studies on the Ecology of Drama (2014), a four-screen projected art setup.
• Potentiality for Love (2018), an art setup that mixes sculpture with moving images.

Films

• Me/We, Okay, and Gray (1993), three short films, each 90 seconds long. They were shown alone and as a group. They appeared as trailers in cinemas and on TV during commercials. Ahtila explores ideas of identity and group relations using film and TV styles.
• If 6 was 9 (1995)
• Today (1996), won an Honorable Mention in 1998.
• Consolation Service (1999), received a Venice Biennale prize.
• Love is a Treasure (2002)
• The Hour of Prayer (2005)
• Where is Where? (2008)
• The Annunciation (2010)
• Studies on the Ecology of Drama (2017)

Awards and Recognition

• 2006, Artes Mundi, Wales International Visual Arts Prize, Cardiff, UK.
• 2009, Title of Academician of Art, given by the President of Finland, Helsinki, Finland.

See also

In Spanish: Eija-Liisa Ahtila para niños