”Against this background one of Taanila’s most recent works, the silent 16mm film Sommerreise (A Summer Trip, 2006) represents a particularly synthetic moment, and is his most personal work to date. To an extent a recreation of Kurenniemi’s experimental short Winterreise (1963), it ‘documents’ (in a poetic manner reminiscent of Stan Brakhage) Taanila’s visit to Kurenniemi, an endless talker, who due to an apoplexy has lost his ability speak. Kurenniemi’s manic, but futile efforts to make himself understood (appropriately, there is no soundtrack) are moving and tragic; the sunny promise of the title gets transformed into the darkness of Schubert’s Winterreise.” – Erkki Huhtamo
selected screenings:
- IFF Message to Man, Cinema Aurora, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2019
- La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain, 2014
- Towards 2048, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, 2013
- Cinema Galeries, Brussels, Belgium, 2013
- Arctic Hysteria, Taidehalli, Helsinki, Finland, 2009
- On the Spot #4, Badischer Kunstverein, Germany, 2008
