Salla Tykkä is a Finnish artist born in Helsinki in 1973 with a unique trajectory that covers photography, video, and cinema and whose work has been acclaimed globally. Tykkä is part of a Nordic generation of artists whose efforts, strongly influenced by the imagery of TV and Pop music, reflect on the roles of women and men in contemporary society and culture. She started out in 1996 but it wasn’t until 2001 with the presentation of her video Lasso at the Venice Biennale that her career took off internationally. Since then Tykkä has worked on several 35mm films, later transferred to video, to be presented in an exhibition context. Her films contain a distinct feminine look at the roles of men and women in our society, approaching some of the many male codes entrenched in popular culture, namely some film genres such as Westerns, science fiction and thrillers which have influenced her generation. Given Salla Tykkä’s international artistic relevance, that has led her work to be featured in significant exhibitions, galleries, and art collections such as Centre Georges Pompidou’s in Paris, we would like to provide a privileged space to the presentation of her work in Portugal, introducing an artist who explores cinematographic language in a very unique manner, particularly the visual and sound conventions of cinema. Curtas Vila do Conde has been showing Salla Tykkä’s films since 2003. Cave (2003) and Zoo (2006) were both presented in the Festival’s competition in 2004 and 2006, respectively and in 2007 Tykkä returned to Vila do Conde as part of the exhibition Under Hitchcock. From these visits we started a relationship that will culminate in her first solo exhibition in Portugal. Salla Tykkä’s show opens in July, at Solar – Cinematic Art Gallery in Vila do Conde, during Curtas Vila do Conde 2009.

High sponsorship: Câmara Municipal de Vila do Conde
Curator: Nuno Rodrigues
Exhibition: Davide Freitas, Luís Gouveia, Toni Mikolla
Production: Raquel Moreira
Sponsoring in communication: Hugo Ramos, Raquel Moreira
Press: Carolina Medeiros
Graphic design: André Cruz