“The scenic landscape of Ii and the Biennale in a rural environment in Northern Finland are unique. This is an opportunity to bring different perspectives on art production to our home region.”
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Antti J. Leinonen is a photographer based in Ii. His photographs have been shown in exhibitions in Finland and abroad. Leinonen’s debut book, Pyynti (Catch), will be published in 2023. Currently Leinonen is working on a project documenting Finnish Americans in Michigan Upper Peninsula.
Leinonen works as a freelance photographer doing portraits, press photos and commercial projects. He has been working for ie. BBC and Helsingin Sanomat. Leinonen was awarded photojournalist of the year in the Finnish Press Photos 2020 competition. In addition his photograph was selected as the best portrait of 2020.
His photographs combine calm observations with humorous situations. His visual language often turns towards a poetic and timeless narrative.
Leinonen is one of the studio artists of KulttuuriKauppila.
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Riikka Tauriainen is originally from Oulu and she lives and works in Zurich. She Studied in Tallinn (Estonian Academy of Arts, BA photography), Essen (Folkwang University of the Arts, communication design), Berlin (Berlin Weissensee School of Art, Fine Arts / Sculpture), and Zurich (Zurich University of the Arts, MA Fine Arts).
Her work has been exhibited transnationally, and she has participated in various biennials, as well as «Artist in Residence» programs.
Her latest exhibition «Experimental Ecology» was shown at KBH.G. Basel autumn 2023.The project was a collaboration between artists and scientists in ecology and it examined ways to re-think our impact on the biosphere.
In her installations, videos and performances she is interested in ecology, gender issues, knowledge production and language. She navigates on the boundaries between art and science, between fact and fiction. Since 2018, Tauriainen has been working on the series of works «Hydrocommons», which operates in a posthumanist world of ideas. It explores to what extent our kinship with other bodies can be understood as a deeply materialistic relationality.
Working as the curator for the Art Ii Biennial brings Tauriainen back to her origins for the first time as an artist.
Art Ii Biennial will be held from 13th to 16th of June 2024.