Anna Estarriola: Staged Circums­tances and Piles of Things

In Anna Estarriola’s exhibition at Amos Rex, the boundaries between the impossible and the possible blur, and our ways of perceiving reality are examined from multiple angles. Staged Circumstances and Piles of Things is the most extensive solo exhibition to date by the Catalonia-born, Helsinki-based artist.

The works explore shifts in scale and perspective, with installations revealing layered, nested scenes that resemble an endless series of theatrical moments. These multidimensional pieces portray efforts toward communication, understanding, and cooperation — along with the inevitable moments of uncertainty and failure that come with them.

The exhibition features 17 works from the past ten years. The installations combine sculpture, moving image, sound, electronics, and performance. Among the earlier pieces is Transportable Altar for a Divinity (2015), a video installation in which small everyday tasks take on a sacred quality. The newest work is Piles of Things (2025), a three-part installation created specifically for the exhibition. Presented here for the first time, it defies gravity as it reaches upward toward the museum’s ceiling.