Axel Straschnoy

Artist and filmmaker Axel Straschnoy (b. 1978, Buenos Aires) creates a spatial installation for EMMA, rooted in his long-standing interest in space science and related social phenomena. The exhibition, part of the Fine Arts Academy of Finland Foundation Prize, invites us to test the boundaries of our political imagination and reflect on the potential of utopian thought.

Straschnoy’s new work explores Posadism, a fringe leftist movement that emerged in 1960s Argentina. One of the most radical ideas of the movement’s founder, Trotskyist activist J. Posadas, was the proposition that contact with communist extraterrestrials could help humanity build a new society on Earth – one without exploitation or poverty.

Straschnoy revisits the Posadist vision in a time marked by deepening political, military, and ecological crises. By weaving together core ideas of the movement and references to search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the artist invites us to reach not only for the stars but also towards an alternative future centred on equality, abundance, and freedom.

The exhibition is produced in collaboration with the Fine Arts Academy of Finland and the City of Espoo. EMMA has been a partner of the art prize since its inception in 2013. The previous winners featured in prize exhibitions at EMMA include Aaron Heino, Tuomas A. Laitinen, Outi Pieski, Katarina Reuter and Camilla Vuorenmaa.