GHENT, BELGIUM.- The S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art presents the exhibition titled Salla Tykkä through October. This double film presentation is the first exhibition in Belgium by the young Finnish artist, Salla Tÿkka. S.M.A.K. shows her most recent films 'Zoo' 2006, and 'Lasso' from 2001, with which she attracted international attention at the Venice Biennale. 'Zoo' runs parallel to this presentation, combined with other works and can also be seen at De Appel in Amsterdam, Museum Het Domein in Sittard and in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo. Together with Museum Het Domein Sittard, De Appel and Galerie Yvon Lambert, an accompanying catalogue has been produced.

Salla Tykka was born in Helsinki in 1973 and between 1995 and 2003 studied at the Academy of Fine Arts there, where she first followed photography and subsequently started working with film and video. She acted herself in her first video works, in 'Power', for instance, made in 1999, where she features in a boxing fight between a girl and a man. From 2000 to 2003 she worked on her Cave trilogy, about different moments in the transformation of a young woman. Salla Tykka's films are striking because of the concise nature of the short stories and the precise use of image, music and sound. Her films fascinate with their beauty but their complexity simultaneously inhibits bringing an unequivocal message.

'Lasso' is part of the 'Cave' trilogy, which follows three moments in the life of young women, moments of transformation from child to adult. 'Lasso' deals with aspects such as lust, fascination, distance and empathy. She examines in each film the popular film genres, such as science fiction or the western, and emphasizes this by using existing soundtracks. In 'Lasso' we see how a young girl arrives at a house in a suburb. She rings at the door but when no-one answers, she goes around to the back. In the glass veranda she sees a boy practising with a lasso rope, with extreme concentration. The girl stands rooted to the spot in admiration of the scene and the boy who exists completely in his own world, unaware of her presence. The music accompanying 'Lasso' is from 'Once upon a time in the West' by Ennio Morricone. It strengthens the sense of admiration while evoking a certain sentimentality.

In 'Zoo' various themes concerning seeing and being seen are investigated in a poetical style. Other topics which contribute to the multiple layers of meaning in the film are the contrasts nature/culture, man/woman and object/subject. In 'Zoo' a young woman wanders through a deserted zoo. From time to time she stops to take photos of the animals but does so with a sense of misgiving and an ever-increasing uneasiness. It is as though she wants to bring the animals closer, through their enclosures or cages, but she feels simultaneously frustrated or hunted by this. The images which she sees through the lens are linked in her head with memories of an underwater rugby match, which are woven into the entire film as flashbacks. In this match with mixed teams, the players, whilst flirting with suffocation, put up a violent fight for the ball. The game can be viewed as a kind of metaphor for man's universal struggle, alternating between self-protection and solidarity. In the course of the film the main actress in 'Zoo' seems to realize more and more that she is not only an observer herself but is also being subjected to observation. Her last desperate act is then performed before the eye of her camera.

In 'Zoo' Tykka refers indirectly to Alfred Hitchcock's work. Wearing a retro suit, the Finnish actress, Terhi Suorlathi, alludes both to Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren, Hitchcock's favorite actresses. The reflex camera over her shoulder, her outfit, her hair, which she wears up, the melodramatic music and the setting are all indebted to and invite comparison with films like 'The Birds'.

Accompanying this Salla Tykka double presentation is the publication with texts by Antti Alanen, Ann Demeester, Stijn Huijts and Eva Wittocx; 192 pages, full color.