Press Preview: Eija-Liisa Ahtila featured in a major solo show at Uppsala Art Museum: A Possible Image – of what is just becoming reality

Members of the press are warmly invited to a preview on 30 September at 1:00 PM. The artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila will be present.

International Premiere at Uppsala Art Museum

The eight-channel film installation Reflection of a Forest (2025) was produced over the course of three years and marks the artist's return to written dialogue in a lyrical mode. The script was informed by the repeated encounter with different locations in southern Finland. In the fifty-minute work, the forest emerges as a shared habitat for humans, animals, trees and other organisms. Through large-scale projections, shifts between close-ups and landscapes, and dialogues between human and more-than-human perspectives, Ahtila explores nature's cycles, vulnerability and resilience.

In the exhibition, Ahtila expands on her exploration of the relationship between humans and other forms of life and asks how we might understand ourselves as part of a larger ecological context. Visitors are invited into immersive worlds where time, perception and the boundaries between human and non-human are set in motion. The exhibition title reflects an attempt to imagine new ways of living and coexist in a rapidly changing world.

Works in the Exhibition

• Reflection of a Forest (2025) explores the forest as a shared living environment for humans, animals and trees.
• April ≈ 61°01'24°27' (2024) is a poetic, sensory installation that brings viewers into close proximity with the Nordic old-growth forest through light, movement and sound.
• Potentiality for Love (2018) examines love, empathy and relationships between species, raising questions about belonging and reciprocity.

The exhibition coincides with the inauguration of Ulleråker Madonna (2026) in Uppsala, Eija-Liisa Ahtila's first permanent public artwork in Uppsala.

A Pioneer of Moving Image Installation

Eija-Liisa Ahtila achieved international recognition in the 1990s and exhibited at institutions including MoMa in New York, Tate Modern in London, and the Venice Biennale. Her work has played a significant role in the development of contemporary video installation practice.

Exhibition Catalogue

A richly illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition, featuring new texts by Cary Wolfe, Catherine de Zegher, Riikka Stewen and Gunilla Stillström, as well as a publication of Giorgio Agamben's essay Taxonomies. It includes a conversation between the artist and the curator. In collaboration with Crystal Eye / Ilppo Pohjola, graphic design Jarkko Ojanen.

Press Preview Programme

• Introduction to the exhibition by curator Rebecka Wigh Abrahamsson.
• Meet the artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila.
• Preview the exhibition before the public opening.
• Presentation of the exhibition catalogue.
  
  

Date: Wednesday, 30 September 2026, 1:00 PM
Venue: Uppsala Art Museum
RSVP: By 25 September to maria.schelin@uppsala.se

The exhibition is on view from 3 October 2026 through 31 January 2027.