STAGED – Anna Estarriola
Anna Estarriola is interested in the connections between media and visual art with performing arts and technology. She is both perplexed and fascinated by human communication and behaviour. In Estarriola’s works, the viewer often comes face to face with a person, a creature or even an object, that is contemplating both the destitution and magnificence of being.
Pursuing the search for ultimate truth, a delusive set of three dimensional sculptures contemplate both the transcendent and absurd. The works, which outline passages between wisdom and turmoil, reflect on the strategies one uses to grasp both, from the everyday to the universal. The project – where micro and macro events are related – talks about our influence on forthcoming history, and intertwines endings with infinity.
Estarriola’s exhibition Staged consists of sculptures where audio-visual technology blends with hyper-realistic and surrealist expression. The largest piece in the exhibition is an installation called The System that stages the illusion of (participation in) democracy – where one’s personal contribution to decision- making becomes blurred. The piece utilises the structure of a parliamentary meeting: it is staged as a democratic event where the future of humanity is under analysis. The show will also include a sample of the artist’s earlier work.
Anna Estarriola earned an MFA from the Department of Sculpture at the University of Barcelona in 2004 and another from the Department of Time and Space Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Finland in 2009. She has also studied contemporary dance. Estarriola has rapidly become one of the most interesting young talents in Finland. She has exhibited her works in galleries and theatres in Catalonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland and Norway. STAGED is Estarriola’s first major museum solo exhibition. Anna Estarriola was born in Catalonia and lives and works in Finland.