Anri Sala, Carl Johan Erikson, Veli Granö

It’s said that utopias are dead, yet that doesn’t stop man’s wish for a better life and a longing to attain something great. In Carl Johan Erikson’s film "Donna Can't Speak in Tongues" (2003) a woman desperately tries to speak in tongues, but utterly fails. Instead of a revelation, the absence of God is painfully felt. This struggle and longing for a glittering world beyond our own, often bears the seeds of its own failure, since the unobtainable is often an aspect of the character of illusion. The mayor in Anri Sala’s film ”Dammi i Colori” (2003) dreams vainly about creating a "modern" town. Therefore he paints the town’s facades vivid colours, which only reinforces the shabbiness of the buildings instead of pointing to a bright future. The gap between dream and reality reveals itself as a chasm. Of course, this failure is part of the human condition – perhaps it is this very impossibility that leads to obsession. And one can ask, if such an obsession really wish to crack the code, because at the very moment they attain their objective, their lives will run the risk of becoming devoid of purpose. This particularly applies to the ageing rocket-fuel inventor Paavo Rahkonen in Veli Granö’s film ”A Strange Message from Another Star” (1998) who still dreams of creating a better life for man on other planets. We don’t know if he is a pathetic oddball or a hero who won’t let go of childhood dreams, as he sends his small, home-made rockets into space. What we do know for sure, is that these rockets won’t take Rahkonen to another, better planet. Fair Trial is an exhibition consisting of three films. They will not be shown together, but separately, one week at a time, during the exhibition period. At the same time, the films are components in a single exhibition, giving different points of view over the same inquiry. For further information and press pictures, please contact Index. The Index exhibition programme is curated by Andreas Gedin, Helena Holmberg, Mats Stjernstedt and Niklas Östholm. Pressetext

Anri Sala, Carl Johan Erikson, Veli Granö
Fair Trial: a group exhibition extended in time