In The World of Tommorrow

Is the future merely an illusion? In The World Of Tomorrow sets up a dialogue between Erkki Kurenniemi and Mika Taanila. The artists' archaeological gaze into time and technology reveals warmth and humanity in places where one might least expect to find them.

Artist and futurist Erkki Kurenniemi (1941–2017) designed robots, built synthesizers, and was a pioneer of Finnish electronic music. He also created experimental films that have significantly influenced filmmaker Mika Taanila (b. 1965), one of the most important Finnish artists of his generation.

Kurenniemi and Taanila also collaborated. In the early 2000s, they added music to Kurenniemi’s silent 16mm films from the 1960s, such as Electronics in the World of Tomorrow (1964) and Firenze (1970), which combine nature imagery with speculative visions of the future. Taanila later helped reconstruct Spindrift (1966), a work long thought to be lost. He has also directed two films about Kurenniemi: The Future Is Not What It Used to Be (2002) and Sommerreise (2006). The latter—an intimate portrait of their friendship—will be screened at the Oulu Music Video Festival.

In addition to Sommerreise, the program features a selection of Taanila’s own works: the modern classic Optical Sound (2005), Patent Nr. 314805 (2020), and Boardroom Walk (1998) by 22-Pistepirkko, which also contains a surprising connection to Kurenniemi.

The screening is worth attending for the rarely seen Spindrift alone. Animated using the computers of the University of Helsinki’s Department of Nuclear Physics, this abstract film ranks among the greatest music videos of all time—making even the visualizations in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer pale by comparison. The film’s jazz score by Swedish composer Jan Bark still sounds startlingly modern.

The screening will be introduced by Mika Taanila.

Mika Taanila: Patentti Nr. 314805 (2020, 2’)

Erkki Kurenniemi & Jan Bark: Spindrift (1966, 15’)

Mika Taanila: Optinen Ääni (2005, 6’, 35mm)

Erkki Kurenniemi: Electronics in the world of tomorrow (1964, 5’)

Mika Taanila: 22-Pistepirkko – Boardroom Walk (1998, 4’)

Erkki Kurenniemi: Firenze (1970, 9’)

Mika Taanila: Sommerreise (2006, 3’, 16mm)

Total length of the screening: 44 min