New display completes Saastamoinen Foundation’s Dialogues exhibition at EMMA

Based on an open dialogue between artworks, the Dialogues exhibition presents Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection through regularly updated displays at EMMA. The newly completed presentation makes use of the intimate scale of the smaller galleries, creating focused dialogues between the works. The visual and material relationships of the artworks generate shifting moods, moments of surprise, and opportunities for reflection. The selection includes works that address topical questions of power, representation, and the role of art in a changing world.

The new hanging of the Dialogues exhibition features works by Pamela Brandt, Océane Bruel, Curtis Cuffie, Rineke Dijkstra, Elmgreen & Dragset, VALIE EXPORT, Sami Havia, Hannaleena Heiska, Markku Keränen, Lebohang Kganye, Markus Konttinen, Matthew Krishanu, Paul McCarthy, Thao Nguyen Phan, Howardena Pindell, Pol Taburet, Emilia Tanner, Toni Vallasjoki and Xiao Zhiyu. In addition, one of the exhibition halls is dedicated to works depicting the human in different ways by Mirja Airas, Milla Aska, Gösta Diehl, Marlene Dumas, Marjatta Hanhijoki, Chantal Joffe, Sanya Kantarovsky, Markus Lüpertz, Olavi Martikainen, Åke Mattas, Elina Merenmies, Elizabeth Peyton, Janne Räisänen, Dana Schutz, Mari Sunna, Antti Tanttu, Rosemarie Trockel and Rafael Wardi.

The previous parts of the Dialogues exhibition opened in 2023 and 2024. The curatorial team for the third part comprises experts from Saastamoinen Foundation Art Committee – Päivi Karttunen, Jani Ruscica and Anna Tuori – together with EMMA’s curators Laura Eweis and Tero Hytönen.

In the media space of the Dialogues exhibition, Mohamed Bourouissa’s (b. 1978) film The Genealogy of Violence is on view. Considered one of the most significant French artists of his generation, Bourouissa often addresses societal themes and the experiences of immigrants in his video and photographic works. The Genealogy of Violence is set in an ordinary French suburb, where two police officers suddenly interrupt a couple conversing in their car. The video work is on view until 15 February 2026.

Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection was deposited with EMMA upon the museum’s founding. Comprising over 3,000 pieces, it is one of the most important collections of Finnish and international art in Finland and is continuously expanded through new acquisitions. The collection is owned by Saastamoinen Foundation and EMMA serves as the collection’s primary exhibition venue. Dialogues, a new exhibition concept for the collection, was inaugurated with its first edition in November 2023. Each display is based on dialogues between artworks and is curated mainly from the foundation’s recent acquisitions.