INVITATION for media: Press Preview of In Search of the Present: On Rootlessness on Thu 12 March at 10:00 am at EMMA

Time and place
Thu 12 March 2026, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art 
Press event at 10:00, exhibition viewing begins at 9:30 
Languages: Finnish and English  

The exhibition In Search of the Present: On Rootlessness will be presented by the curators: EMMA’s Chief Curator Ingrid Orman and Curators Laura Eweis and Pernilla Wiik. EMMA’s Director, Krist Gruijthuijsen, will also speak at the event. 

Interviews with the artists can be arranged both onsite and remotely. Some artists will be available at the museum during the weeks preceding the opening. The following artists will be present at the press preview: Germaine Kruip, Haruka Kashima, Jani-Matti Salo, Ken Matsubara, WAUHAUS, and Maaria Wirkkala.

For further information, interview requests and registrations by Mon 9 March 2026, please contact: 
Iris Suomi, Marketing and Communications Manager 
iris.suomi@emmamuseum.fi 
+358 44 760 1930 

In Search of the Present: On Rootlessness | 14.3.2026 – 7.2.2027 

In Search of the Present is EMMA’s series of international group exhibitions that brings together leading contemporary artists to explore the key phenomena and questions of our time. The third edition, opening now, is an invitation to be present both in time and place. Spatial installations transform the museum galleries into spaces for quiet presence and contemplation, in which notions around belonging and rootlessness are brought into focus.

Artists: Marina Abramović, Haruka Kashima, Kimsooja, Tarik Kiswanson, Germaine Kruip, Ken Matsubara, Lydia Ourahmane, Helen Pashgian, Jani-Matti Salo, Danh Võ, WAUHAUS x TTK (Nurture), Ian Wilson, and Maaria Wirkkala. Some of the works have been selected from the Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection. 
 
The title In Search of the Present refers to a collection of essays published in 1929 by Finnish author Olavi Paavolainen, in which he reflected on modern identity and experience in a rapidly changing world. Previous editions of the exhibition series were presented in 2016 and 2022.

Our warmest thank you to the supporters of the exhibition: LocalTapiola whose donation enables the realisation of Helen Pashgian’s work, and the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, whose support makes Kimsooja’s installation possible. 

The exhibition has received a state grant from the Finnish Heritage Agency.