Pilvi Takala

1 December 2022

Close watch on power and social control 

Artist Pilvi Takala will present her project Close Watch, which takes a critical look at how power is wielded in public spaces through the private security industry. The video installation is based on Takala’s experiences during her six-month employment while working covertly for Securitas as a fully qualified security guard in one of Finland’s largest shopping malls. The videos were filmed at a three-day workshop organized by Takala in which she and her ex-colleagues address issues of racism, violence and toxic behaviour that she has encountered in the workplace. Close Watch opens up a space for reflection to explore alternative tactics as the guards, and by extension ourselves, can consider one’s roles, ethics, and power when exerting authority in their field, and society. 

Pilvi Takala‘s work has been shown in venues including Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2021); Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2021); Künstlerhaus Bremen (2019); Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki (2018); CCA Glasgow (2016); Manifesta 11, Zurich (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015); MoMA PS1, New York (2014); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013): New Museum, New York (2012); Kunsthalle Basel (2011); Kunstinstituut Melly (FKA Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, 2010) and 9th Istanbul Biennial (2005). Takala won the Dutch Prix de Rome in 2011 and the Emdash Award and Finnish State Prize for Visual Arts in 2013. Takala represents Finland at the Venice Biennale, 2022