CV

Working with film, photography, text and site-specific installations, Saara Ekström explores liminality, temporality and the stratification of time and history, moving on the borderlands between the concrete and the allegorical, the past and the future. Messages scratched and burned on the walls of an abandoned prison. Ritual masks emerging from the depths of disappearing forests. Erupting volcanoes creating steaming passages to the underworld and our subconscious. Ekström searches for hidden realms, where myths, culture and nature, the sacred and profane meet. Saara Ekström’s experimental and avantgarde films have been widely shown at international film festivals, and her art has been presented in numerous exhibitions at museums in Europe, America and Asia. She has been recognized among others with the Finnish State Art Prize in 2023, the Finnish media art AVEK award in 2018 and the Southern Finland Art Prize in 2017, as well as with nominations for Below Zero, Ars Fennica and Carnegie Art Awards.

 

Born in Turku, Finland 1965


CONTACT

saara.ekstrom@jippii.fi
+358(0)400-615460

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
 Geopsyche, MAN – Museum Anna Nordlander, Skellefteå, Sweden
 Waste and Wonder, Fullersta Gård, Huddinge, Sweden
2023
 Through the Still Eye of the Timestorm, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Finland
 Designing With Nature, Kolvenburg Castle, Germany
2021
 Biblion, EMMA Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland
 The Shadow Cast by Time, Galleria Laikku, Tampere, Finland
2020
 Amnion, Vita Kuben, Umeå, Sweden
2019
 Amnion, Ars Nova Museum of History and Contemporary Art, Turku, Finland
2018
 Amnion, Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
 Body All Eyes, Gallery Sinne, Helsinki, Finland
2017
 Amplifier, Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki, Finland
2016
 Alchemy, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland
 Alchemy, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden
2015
 Charm, Teos, Helsinki, Finland
2014
 Careless Water, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
 The Ever Changing Portrait – feat. Saara Ekström, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
 Limbus, Atalante, Gothenburg, Sweden
2013
 Hortus Conclusus, Turku Castle, Turku, Finland
2012
 Faraway, Helsinki City Art Museum, Kontti, Helsinki, Finland
 Limbus, Åland Museum of Art, Mariehamn, Finland
2011
 Limbus, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
 Limbus, Kuntsi, Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, Finland
 Rosario, Turku Castle, part of the Turku 2011 European Capital of Culture, Finland
2010
 Excess and Ascesis, Gallery Kalhama&Piippo, Helsinki
2009
 Changers, Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
2008
 A Single Charm is Doubtful, Galerie Centrum, Graz, Austria
 Liquid Life, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden
 Explaining Darkness, Turku Art Museum, Studio, Turku, Finland
2007
 No Body, gallery Ama, Helsinki, Finland
 Nothing Elegant, HIAP – Project Room, Cablefactory, Helsinki, Finland
 Invisible, 300 m3 Art Space, Gothenburg, Sweden
2006
 Grotesque & Arabesque, Galeria do Lago, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
 Gallery Husa, Tampere, Finland
2005
 Visitation, Gallery Artina, Helsinki, Finland
 Grotesque & Arabesque, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
2004
 The Last Branch, Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland
 Taste me, Gallery Ama, Turku, Finland
2003
 Mnemonic, Pori Art Museum, Finland
2002
 Mothers of Pearl, Gallery Husa, Tampere, Finland
2001
 Flight, Gallery Kari Kenetti, Helsinki, Finland
 Nursery, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland
 faith/hope/charity, Retretti Art Center, Punkaharju, Finland
2000
 Seascape, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden
1999
 Rosary, project room X, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
 Skin in Bloom, Kakelhallen, Mariehamn, Åland
1998
 Carnation, Gallery 54, Gothenburg, Sweden
1997
 A Rose is Sorrows, Galleria G, Helsinki, Finland
 Hanging Gardens, Turku Art Museum, Finland
1996
 Bonded, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, AZ, USA
 Votives, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, USA
1995
 Anatomy of Love, Galleria Titanik, Turku, Finland
 Fragments, Gallerie Slunkariki, Isafjord, Iceland
1994
 L’adoration, TML-Galleria, Helsinki


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
  Mask – Multiple Identities, Serlachius Manor, Mänttä, Finland
  Strange Attraction, Korundi House of Culture, Rovaniemi, Finland
  I feel, for now, Amos Rex, Helsinki, Finland
  The Girl Who Turned into a Rosebush, HAM – Helsinki Art Museum, Finland

2023
  Psychological Spaces, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden
  Handle With Care, Turku Art Museum, Finland
  Migrations, Archipelago Centre Korpoström, Finland

2022
  Nature Morte – Still Alive, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Germany
  Nature Morte, Rowe Arts Gallery, Charlotte, USA

2021
  Wild/Schön, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany
  Liquid Modernity, Persons Projects, Berlin, Germany
  Chronotop Contemporary Art Festival, Vyborg, Russia
  Mayship, SÍM Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
  Unmapping Futures, Museum of Impossible Forms, Helsinki, Finland
  VIDS 21 – media art, Lappeenranta Art Museum, Finland
  Vanitas, Turku Castle exhibitions, Turku, Finland

2020
  Meadow, Onoma, Fiskars, Finland
  Still Still Life, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
  Inanimate Life and Dead Nature, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland
  Collected Secrets, Galleri Elverket, Ekenäs, Finland

2019
  Screen City Biennial 2019 – Ecologies, Lost, Found and Continued, Stavanger, Norway
  Videonale 17 – Refracted Realities, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany
  The Non-Human Animal, Uppsala Art Museum, Uppsala, Sweden
  Silhouettes and Shadows, Kerava Art Museum, Finland
  Growth and Loss – Hair in Contemporary Art, Oulu Museum of Art, Finland
  Earth Rights, Turku Art Hall, Turku, Finland
  Four Elements, Turku Art Museum, Finland

2018
  Oceans of Time, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Sweden
  No Ordinary Moments, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland

2017
  Classics, Helsinki Contemporary, Finland
  Abundance and Ephemerality, Kadriorg Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
  Nature Morte, Guildhall Art Gallery, London, GB
  Nature Morte, National Museum, Four Dome Pavilion, Wroclaw, Poland

2016
  Kiasma’s Collection Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
  Growth, Fiskars, Finland
  Luscious Thrills, Gammel Holtegaard, Denmark
  Nature Morte, Konsthallen Bohuslän Museum, Uddevalla, Sweden
  15 Rooms, Ars Nova, Turku, Finland
  Second Coming, gallery 3h + k, Pori, Finland

2015
  Art on Paper/Art Fair, Richard Levy Gallery, NYC, USA
  Blommor, Millesgården, Lidingö, Sweden

2014
  ISCP Fall Open Studios, Brooklyn, NYC, USA
  Art Miami, Richard Levy Gallery, Miami, USA
  The Big Picture, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
  Agitations, Salo Art Museum, Finland

2013
  Street Life, Helsinki Contemporary, Helsinki, Finland
  The Seventh Wave – Wihuri and Visual Art, Lönnström Art Museum, Rauma, Finland
  A Line In Water, Hyvinkää Art Museum, Hyvinkää, Finland

2012
  Alice in Wonderland, ECCO, Espacio de Creación Contemporánea, Cádiz, Spain
  Festival Voies Off Arles 2012, La Photographie du Nord en 3 actes, Arles, France
  The Seventh Wave – Wihuri and Visual Art, Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland
  Taste and Form, Fiskars, Finland

2011
  Reflective Shadow, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, Denmark
  Alice in Wonderland, Logomo / The Finnish Museum of Photography, Turku, Finland
  Sijamuotoja, Purnu Art Centre, Orivesi, Finland
  Halikonlahti Green Art, Salo Art Museum, Salo, Finland
  Kaunas Photo Festival, BLC-Hall, Kaunas, Lithuania
  Flower!, Dalslands Art Museum, Åsensbruk, Sweden
  Carnegie Art Award 2010, Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland

2010
  Carnegie Art Award 2010 – Nordic Painting |Listasafn Islands, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland; The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Sweden; Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
  Memory Traces, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany; Galerie Kuma, Berlin, Germany
  Art Paris + Guests/ Gallery Kalhama&Piippo Contemporary, Grand Palais, Paris, France
  Dallas Art Fair/Richard Levy Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA

2009
  Carnegie Art Award 2010, Kunsthalle Charlottenburg, Copenhagen, Denmark
  Glow, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, USA
  Pulse NY/Richard Levy Gallery, New York City, USA
  Finnish Contemporary Art, Gothenburg Art Museum, Sweden
  Four Finnish Cut Outs, Borås Art Museum, Borås, Sweden
  Performances, Savonlinna Temporary/Kalhama&Piippo Contemporary, Finland
  Surface – Turku Biennial, Ars Nova & Aboa Vetus, Turku, Finland
  Ecology of the Emotions, Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä, Finland
  Visuell Förvirring, Åland Art Museum, Mariehamn, Åland, Finland
  Incertitude de la Vision, Tour&Taxis, Brussels, Belgium

2008
  Persistance Des Rêves, Bibliothèque Mériadec, Bordeaux, France
  Visible – Invisible, Vaasa and Gothenburg Art Museums, Finland and Sweden
  Nature, Dalslands konstmuseum, Sweden
  Brave New World, Galerie Mánes, Prague, Czech Republic
  Blooming, Pro Artibus, Elverket, Tammisaari, Finland
  Art Fair Suomi 08, Cabel Factory, Helsinki
  The Flower, Kuopio Art Museum, Finland

2007
  Sighing, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Dunedin, New Zealand
  Wild – fantasy and architecture, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland
  Come Ashore, 12th international Environment Art Symposium, Geoje Art Center, South Korea
  Transparent, Fiskars, Finland
  Conversations, Kerava Art Museum, Finland
  In Between, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden

2006
  Light and Shadow, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
  Ephemeral – a flash for eternity, Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Japan
  Drawing Lust, – drawing in digital times, Kunsthalle Lophem, Belgium
  Beneath the surface, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden

2005
  Faunomania, Röda Sten, Gothenburg, Sweden
  Light Treatment, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland
  Sediments, Turku Art Museum, Turku, Finland

2004
  Buitenspel, GEM – The Hague Museum of Contemporary Art, Netherlands
  Love Me or Leave Me, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Finland
  The Garden of Eden, Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland

2003
  Night Train, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
  Natur, The Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland

2002
  Ars Fennica 2002, Hämeenlinna and Lappeenranta Art Museums, Finland

2001
  Sub Rosa, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark – Södertälje Art Hall, Sweden

2000
  Happiness, Union Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands

1998
  Tangents, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
  Collect, Union Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands

1997
  Growth, Turku Art Museum, Finland

1996
  Art Chicago ’96, International Artfair, Chicago Pier, USA
  Womens´ International Exhibition, Gallery Soho20, New York, USA
  Matrix International ’96, Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA, USA

1995
  Nordic Drawing Triennal, Sweden and Norway

1994
  Paradise and Suffering, South Carelian Art Museum, Lappeenranta, Finland

1993
  Crime Passionel, Gallery Fabriken, Gothenburg, Sweden


FILM FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS

2024
  Akbank Short Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
  Metakino #6 text, WHS teatteri, Helsinki, Finland
  Oulu Music Video Festival, Oulu, Finland

2023
  Bogoshorts, Bogota, Colombia
  Blue Danube International Film Festival, Vienna and Budapest – winner of best experimental film award
  Music for films by Mika Vainio, Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal
  Shorts Mexico – Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes, Mexico City, Mexico
  FLIGHT, Mostra internationale festival, Genova, Italy

2022
  Rencontres Internationals Berlin, Germany
  Festival Internazionale Segni della Notte, Urbino, Italy
  International Festival Signes de Nuit, Bangkok, Thailand
  Codex Ekström: short films by Saara Ekström at Art House Niagara, Tampere, Finland
  Rencontres Internationals Paris, France
  KampusArt – Media Art Program, Turku, Finland
  SOLA-festival, Helsinki, Finland

2021
  CPH:DOX Documentary Film Festival, nomination for New:Vision award, Copenhagen, Denmark
  IFF of Popular Science and Educational films, The World of Knowledge, St. Petersburg, Russia
  Shorts México – 16 Festival Internacional de Cortometrajes
  FLIGHT, Mostra internationale festival, Genova, Italy
  Love & Anarchy International Film Festival, additional program, Helsinki, Finland
  34 Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille, France
  ArchFilmLund, Lund, Sweden
  FRACTO Experimental Film Festival, Berlin, Germany
  ΠΛΑΤΦΟΡΜΕΣ Platforms Project 2021, MUU ry, Athens, Greece

2020
  Love & Anarchy IFF, Sight and Sound with Heikki Kossi, Finland
  33rd Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille, France
  50 Hz, Mika Vainio Hommage, Kiasma, Finland
  FLIGHT, Mostra internationale festival, Genova, Italy
  Revolutions Per Minute Film Festival, Boston, USA
  Melbourne Short Film Festival, Australia

2020
  33rd Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille, France

2019
  23. Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Jihlava, Czech
  Edinburgh IFF, Edinburgh, Scotland
  Sheffield Doc/Fest, Sheffield, UK
  De Imagerie, Antwerpen, Belgium
  Suomalaisen Elokuvan Festivaali, Turku, Finland

2018
  XV DocumentaMadrid, Madrid, Spain
  IFF Pacific Meridian, Vladivostok, Russia
  22nd International Video Festival Videomedeja, Novi Sad, Serbia
  Pori Film Festival, Pori, Finland
  Rex Fest, Bio Rex, Helsinki, Finland
  AV-arkki, ISFF Oberhausen, Germany

2017
  Stage Festival, Vainio – Taanila – Ekström, Mika Vainio Tribute Screening, Korjaamo, Helsinki

2016
  20. Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech

2012
  Serial Sevens, collaboration with Francesca Verunelli and Kristiina Helin, Extreme –
The 56th International Festival of Contemporary Music, Venice, Italy
  Serial Sevens, collaboration with Francesca Verunelli and Kristiina Helin, Stuttgarter Sommerfest, Germany

2010
  Public Screens, Stavanger, Norway
  Art Fair Suomi, MUU ry, Helsinki, Finland

2009
  Subvision kunstfestival,Hamburg, Saksa Künstlerhaus Frise, Germany

2008
  Festart08, Tampere Film Festival, Tr1, Rautahalli, Tampere, Finland
  VIEW08 – Festival of Finnish Media Art, Andorra, Helsinki, Finland

2007
  Art Fair Suomi, MUU ry, Helsinki, Finland


PUBLIC WORK

Kallio primary school, Helsinki, Finland
Vähätori Square, Turku, Finland
Strömberg elementary school, Sockenbacka, Helsinki, Finland
Arcada Nova, Helsinki, Finland
Tietotalo, Tampere Technical University, Tampere, Finland
City Library, Turku, Finland
OAMK, Polytechnic University, Oulu, Finland


AWARDS, NOMINATIONS and HONORS

2024   Nomination for Below Zero Art Award
2023   The Finnish State Prize for Visual Arts
2023   Blue Danube International Film Festival – Best Experimental Film Award
2018   AVEK Media Art Award
2017   Art Prize of Southwest Finland
2015   Arts Council of Finland, 5 year working grant
2014   Alfred Kordelin foundation: Grant for ISCP – artist in residence, Brooklyn, NYC, USA
2011   The Environmental Structure of the Year, honourable mention for the public work “Refrain”, Turku, Finland
2010   Nomination for Carnegie Art Award 2010, Sweden
2010-2011 Wihuri Foundation, studio award, Helsinki, Finland
2009   Arts Council of Finland, 5-year working grant
2002   Nomination for Ars Fennica Prize
1996   Matrix international exhibition award, USA
1995   Finnish Art Foundation Award
1995   Stina Krook Foundation
1994   Aboa-award


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Asta Kihlman: ”The Girl Who Turned into a Rose Bush”, HAM – Helsinki Art Museum exhibition catalogue, works from Bäcksbacka and HAM collections, 2024
Mio Lindman: ”Waste and Wonder”, a text for solo exhibition at Fullersta Gård, 2024
Taru Elfving: ”In the Grains and Folds of Time”, an essay for Kunsthalle Helsinki solo exhibition ”Through the Eye of the Timestorm”, 2023
Bianca Gräsbeck: ”Saara Ekströms konst frammanar djup förundran”, Ny Tid, 2023
Petteri Enroth: ”Saara Ekströmin näkymät ajan syvyyksiin”, Taide-lehti, 4/2023
Patrick Gamble: ”Interview with Saara Ekström” for Alt/Kino, 2021
Taru Elfving: ”Shifting Scales, Salinities, Shorelines”, paragraph: ”Fingery Eyes”, Screen City Biennial Journal, 2019
Laura Köönikkä, ”Alchemy”, essay for solo exhibition, Bildmuseet, 2016
Leevi Haapala, Timo Valjakka, Leena Kuumola: ”Limbus”, catalogue for solo exhibition, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, 2011
Tutta Palin: essay “The Smiling Patograph”, catalogue for solo exhibition ”Grotesque & Arabesque” at Amos Anderson Art Museum, 2005
Patrik Söderlund: essay “Beneath the Tamarind Tree”, catalogue for solo exhibition ”Grotesque & Arabesque” at Amos Anderson Art Museum, 2005
Petr Rehor: “Ornamentti on kuvakieli”, Taide, 1/ 2004, Art-Print Oy, 2004
Tomas Träskman: “ Mnemonic”, Pori Art Museum publications, Koteva, 2003
Berndt Arell: Ars Fennica 2002 / “Still life – life with death in it”, Art –Print Oy, 2002
Robert Storr: Ars Fennica Exhibition, 2002, www.arsfennica.fi
Charlotte Brandt, Pia Thunholm: Sub Rosa – Flowers in Contemporary Nordic Art / “Love, Eroticism, Happiness and Unhappiness”, Fihl-Jensen Grafisk Produktion A/S, 2001
Tuula Karjalainen, Berndt Arell: Seascape / “Om ingenting är svårt, hur skall du kunna känna lättnaden, tror du?”, Koteva, 2000


WORKS IN COLLECTIONS

(In Finland, unless otherwise mentioned)
Collections of the Finnish State, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki City Art Museum, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Pori Art Museum, Tampere Art Museum, Turku Art Museum, Kuopio Art Museum, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Saastamoinen foundation, Paulo foundation, Wihuri Foundation, Turku and Kaarina congregation, City of Kaarina, OP Bank Group, Turku, Åbo Akademi, Pro Artibus, Sampo-group, Collections of the Swedish State, Göteborgs Konstnämnd, Sweden, Nordic Watercolour Museum, Sweden, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, USA


ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

2022   Villa Lante, The Finnish Institute in Rome, Italy
2021   SÍM residency, Reykjavik, Iceland
2021   ÖRES, Örö Island Residency Programme, Finland
2021   The Åland Archipelago Guest Residence, Kökar, Finland
2019   The Nordic Art Association, Stockholm, Sweden
2018   Youkobo Art Space – returnee residency program, Tokyo, Japan
2014   ISCP – International Studio and Curatorial Program, NYC, USA
2009   Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
2008   Cultural City Network, Graz, Austria
2006   Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Aomori, Japan,
2003   Villa Lante, Rome, Italy,
2003   Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, Brooklyn, USA,
2007   HIAP, Helsinki, Finland