(b. in 1989, Finland) Lives and works in Berlin
Working with biological and computational systems such as human microbiome, bacteria, slime mould and artificial neural networks, Finnish artist Jenna Sutela highlights precarious social and material moments often in relation to technology. Sutela’s practice is centred around exploring the symbolic relationships between all life forms, whether organic or synthetic. In her audiovisual pieces, photographs, sculptures and performances, both ancient and futuristic materials and visuals overlap, subverting the narrative of survival-of-the-fitters in favour of harmony and symbiosis of living and non-living forms. Dwelling into alternative forms of intelligence in organic and digital spheres, the artist produces work that highlights how human beings do not live in the vacuum but instead exist in a symbiotic, and sometimes esoteric ecosystems with many life and non-life forms that are beyond our comprehension.
Jenna Sutela’s work has been presented at museums and art contexts internationally, including Guggenheim Bilbao, Moderna Museet (Stockhold), and Serpentine Galleries (London), and Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, among others. She is a Visiting Artist at The MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) in 2019-20.