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