The Touch exhibition presented contemporary art from Finland and around the world.
The exhibition’s guiding thread was humanity, through which it explores fundamental questions of life. The overall collection consisted of various themes that deal with topics such as identity, perception, and our relationship to the body and the surrounding space.

The media works of Elina Brotherus and Artor Jesus Inkerö examine the relationship between the human body, architecture, and the cultural environment. Hans Rosenström’s Part of Everything (2011–2019), known for his site-specific works, is a sound installation housed in a space built specifically for it. The work’s audio recording was captured on-site using binaural technology with a dummy head. The sound piece, simulating a real listening situation, creates a powerful sense of an unfamiliar presence.

The exhibition featured Alicja Kwade’s Trans-For-Men (2018) and Olafur Eliasson’s Pentagonal Mirror Tunnel(2017), both commissioned by Saastamoinen Foundation and specifically designed for EMMA in consideration with its unique architecture.

The section Human, Architecture, and the Built Environment includes works by the following artists: Elina Brotherus, Olafur Eliasson, Susanne Gottberg, Radoslaw Gryta, Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen, Heli Hiltunen, Nanna Hänninen, Artor Jesus Inkerö, Hannu Karjalainen, Pertti Kekarainen, Ola Kolehmainen, Vladimir Kopteff, Alicja Kwade, Tatsuo Miyajima, Pekka Nevalainen, Tiina Pyykkinen, Silja Rantanen, and Hans Rosenström.

At the same time as the exhibition’s update, William Kentridge’s (b. 1955) work Other Faces was exhibited in the media room, on display from October 8, 2019, to January 26, 2020. The animation by South African Kentridge is set in post-apartheid Johannesburg. The piece is composed of charcoal drawings, whose erasure and redrawing process Kentridge has filmed with a 35mm camera. Kentridge’s works address social injustice, drawing inspiration from South Africa’s violent history and its reflections in the present day.