The new exhibition Alien in Me celebrates 20 years of Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collections in EMMA - Espoo Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition opens on 23 October 2026.
Gillian Wearing, Me as Pier Paolo Pasolini, 2024. Courtesy Maureen Paley, London, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York and Regen Projects, Los Angeles. Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection / EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art. © Ari Karttunen / EMMA
Alien in Me explores experiences of alienation and otherness in a world undergoing constant transformation. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on how our understanding of ourselves and our surroundings is formed, and how these processes can at times create distance between individuals. Feelings of estrangement may also emerge from within, shaped by experiences such as displacement, migration, or the transition from one environment to another.
Within the exhibition, alienation and the perspective of the outsider are approached as possibilities for reimagining the world and its structures. Boundaries once perceived as stable—between human and non-human, body and machine, gender identities, and cultural or linguistic belonging—appear increasingly fluid and interconnected. Central to the exhibition are encounters and relationships: our layered connections to cultures, landscapes, places, and technologies, as well as to other people, bodies, and non-human beings.
Curated by EMMA’s Director Krist Gruijthuijsen, this newly conceived exhibition from Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection forms part of EMMA’s 20th anniversary programme in 2026. It celebrates the longstanding collaboration between EMMA and Saastamoinen Foundation, the museum’s founding partner. The presentation brings together recent acquisitions alongside earlier works from the collection, including several pieces exhibited publicly for the first time. In total, the exhibition features works by over 50 artists.
Heli Rekula, Surplus II, 2006. Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection.
Artists
Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Olga Balema, Ericka Beckman, Louise Bourgeois, Sonia Boyce, Stefan Bremer, Benjamin de Burca & Bárbara Wagner, Alexandru Chira, John Coplans, Tony Cragg, Filippo de Pisis, Johanna Ehrnrooth, Antony Gormley, Kaisaleena Halinen, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Peter Hujar, Ismo Hölttö, Teija & Pekka Isorättyä, Chantal Joffe, Isaac Julien, Jan Kaila, Nnena Kalu, Dzamil Kamanger, Aimo Kanerva, Edward Kienholz, Jürgen Klauke, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Liisa Lounila, Lee Lozano, Leena Luostarinen, Ana Lupaș, Annette Messager, Boris Mikhailov, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Sarah Morris, Paulina Ołowska, Meret Oppenheim, Wong Ping, Joanna Piotrowska, Josephine Pryde, Pors & Rao, Heli Rekula, Jani Ruscica, Gretta Sarfaty, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Dayanita Singh, P. Staff, Jenna Sutela & Gillian Wearing .
More information on visiting EMMA on the museum website.