Eeva-Liisa Puhakka works in mediums that include kinetic sculpture, video, installation and environmental art. Puhakka is a member of Scent Club Berlin, a collective of artists, designers and scientists working in and between scents and smells and these fields of practice. The group focuses on scent and olfaction as an expressive medium for experimentation in art, science and technology. A specific focus in her recent work has been the investigation of human and animal dependence: the synanthropic species, together with global environmental changes on bird populations and bird migration in correlation to human migration.
The nature of her art is usually site-specific and she work with the space. She puts the viewer in the middle of the installation, so to create the work through direct experience and the experience transmits through images, sound, objects, moving or inactive objects and even smells. By applying a poetic language she absorb the storytelling art in her art practice.
Many of themes in her works approaches memory and time from divers angles using methods such as storytelling, the sense of smell and imprints of history in architecture. Themes encountered include objective/subjective history, rural flight, personal and family history, nature and animal. She addresses memory and time from diverse angles using the sense of smell and imprints of history in architecture and landscape. She have recently been researching a religious sect and its child preachers, that affected my home town in southern Finland during the 1930s-1950s.
CV
Eeva-Liisa Puhakka graduated with an MFA in New Media art from Valand School of Fine Arts, University of Gothenburg (2009) and an MSc in Environmental Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology (2001). She lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Kouvola, Finland. Puhakka’s works have been widely presented in exhibitions across Europe, including Transmediale Vorspiele Berlin (2017), KW Berlin, WRO Media Art Festival (2015), VIA/EXIT media art festivals (2016), Ostrale Dresden, Piksel Norway, Cairo Video Festival, Galleri Box Göteborg (2016), Liebig12 Berlin, Titanik gallery Turku (2014) and Huuto gallery Helsinki (2014). In 2017 she exhibited solo with Kleiner Salon, Berlin and was shortlisted for Below Zero, London. Puhakka’s works regularly in a curatorial/production role and projects have included Nordic Environmental Art and Science Symposium, Helsinki (2017), Landscape-Metropolis exhibition, Berlin (2015) and Ars Lieke media art exhibition, Kouvola Art Museum, Finland (2014). Her most recent project Deliver Us From Evil, was curated for Antares Art Center, Finland (2018).
EDUCATION
2009 MFA, specialization in new media art, Valand School of Fine Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
2001 MSc, Water treatment and management, Helsinki University of Technology (Aalto University), Finland.
PRICES
2017 Shortlisted to Below Zero Art Prize, London, UK
2015 WRO Resume exhibition, the best of biennale 2015, Wroclau, Poland, Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 BcmArte gallery, Kleiner Salon, Berlin, Germany.
2016 Galleri Box, Göteborg, Sweden. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
2014 Liebig12, Berlin, Germany. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Titanik gallery, Turku, Finland.
Huuto gallery, Helsinki, Finland.
Gallery Kampen Visningsrum, Oslo, Norway. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
2011 00130Gallery Project Room, Helsinki, Finland.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
10 years anniversary show, Kouvola Art Museum, Finland.
2019
Nakanojo Biennale 2019, Japan.
2018
Emerge/ncy, Transmediale Vorspiele2018, Berlin, Germany.
Black, The Hague, Netherlands.
Luftlinie /28. Kunstschau, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Germany.
Zamek Valek, Karlovarský Kraj, Czech.
Arosita gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Pyhäniemi2018, Hollola, Finland.
Antares Art center, Kouvola, Finland.
Holo sounds 4, Hohenlockstedt, Germany.
2017
Top Schillerpalais, Berlin, Germany.
Kutscherhaus Recklinghausen, Germany.
Ars Sippola, Antares, Kouvola, Finland.
Process Space Art Festival, Ruse, Bulgaria.
Dada post, Berlin, Germany.
At This Point In Time, Edinburgh, Scotland.
2016
Via media art festival, Maubeuge, France. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Exit media art festival, Creteil, France. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Artists without borders, Castle Wolkersdorf, Austria.
Grey Cube galleries, Helsinki, Finland. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
10th Water tower art festival, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Artists without borders, gallery Karşı Sanat, Ankara, Turkey.
Artists without borders, Consulate General of Austria, Istanbul, Turkey.
2015
Cairo Video Festival, Cairo, Egypt.
Piksel festival, Bergen, Norway. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Gallery Poriginal, Pori, Finland.
Deep Trash: The Animal Farm, London, UK.
One night stand, gallery KW, Berlin, Germany. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Cultivating Cultures, audiovisual festival, Lviv, Ukraine. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
WRO Resume exhibition, best of biennale 2015, Wroclau, Poland, Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Landscape-Metropolis exhibition, Schöneweide, Berlin, Germany.
Water tower art festival, Sofia, Bulgaria.
WRO Media Art Biennale, Wroclau, Poland. Collaboration with Katrin Caspar.
Digital Art exhibition, Helsinki, Finland.
2014
Gallery SIM, Reykjavik, Iceland.
The IT Show: An Interactive Art Exhibit, Berlin, Germany.
Kunsthalle Porvoo, Finland.
Wasteland festival, Kouvola, Finland.
Ars Lieke 2014, Kouvola art museum, Finland.
Open house, WAAW residency, St Louis, Senegal.
2013
Bronx World Film, NYC, US.
Environmental art exhibition LARU13, Helsinki, Finland.
Wasteland festival, Kouvola, Finland.
Environmental exhibition, Vartiosaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Eco art exhibition and residency, Kronstadt, Russia.
Environmental art exhibition Ars Sippola, Kouvola, Finland.
Athens Slingshot, GA, USA.
2012
Environmental art exhibition LARU12, Helsinki. Finland.
Environmental art camp and exhibition, Tolstjakovo, Russia.
Ostrale12, international contemporary art exhibition, Dresden, Germany.
Wasteland festival, Kouvola. Finland.
Ateljehof Kreuzberg, Berlin. Germany.
PUBLICATIONS
2018 Pyhäniemi2018, summer exhibition catalogue
2018 Luftlinie, 28 Kunstschau des Künstlerbundes Mecklenburg und Vorpommern – exhibition catalogue
2016 Perceptions, Exit and Via biennale, media art festival catalogue
2016 Galleri Box yearbook
2015 WRO biennale catalogue
2013 SERDE yearbook
2012 Tolstjakovo, a catalogue of the environmental art exhibition
2012 Ostrale12, a catalogue of the international contemporary art exhibition
PRESS & REVIEWS
2018 Keskilaakso newspaper and Kouvolan Sanomat, Kouvola, Finland
2017 Keskilaakso newspaper, Kouvola, Finland
2017 Recklinghäuser Zeitung, Germany
2014 Turun Sanomat, Turku, Finland
2013 Keskilaakso newspaper, Kouvola, Finland
2015 Szum magazine, Wroclau, Poland
MEMBERSHIP
2017- Scent club Berlin, Spektrum, Berlin
2017 Kouta ry
2015-17 Smell Lab, Spektrum, Berlin
2011 MUU ry, Finnish interdisciplinary artist association
2011 Laru ry, Environmental Art Association
CURATORIAL
2019 Co-curator, Kouta 10 years exhibition in Kouvola art museum.
2018 Curator, “Deliver us from evil” exhibition, Art Center Antares, Kouvola, Finland.
2017 Member of production and curatorial teams in Nordic Environmental Art and Science Symposium, Helsinki.
2015 Assistant curator, Landscape-Metropolis exhibition, Berlin.
2015 Curator, the video collection, LARU art.
2014 Assistant curator, Ars Lieke 2014 exhibition in Kouvola art museum.
2014 Curator, the video screenings to Wasteland festival, Kouvola.
EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS / Scent Club Berlin
2018 Performative exhibition in collaboration with sound artist Elsa M’Bala, Outbound, KuLe, Berlin.
2018 ( ) Whole Space. Installation of smell of empathy. MMOMA Moscow. Russia.
2018 Guided Smell Tour and workshops in Welt ohne Aussen group exhibition, Martin Gropius Bau, curated by Tino Sehgal and Thomas Oberender
2018 Guided Smell Tour of Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
2018 Smells Like Home, Wir! Eine Welt Gemeinschaft, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, Berlin, Germany
EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS / Smell Lab Berlin
2017 Smell Me, Smell You, Polytech Festival, Moscow, Russia
2016 Smell Me, Smell You, STATE Festival, Berlin, Germany
RESIDENCIES
SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art), Seoul, Korea. 2019.
Arenys de Mar, Barcelona. Spain. 2019.
Circolo Scandinavo, Rome, Italy. 2018.
Water Tower Art residency, Sofia, Bulgaria. 2018.
Can Serrat, Barcelona. Spain. 2017-2018.
Obras, Portugal. 2016.
Edinburgh, UK. 2015
SIM, Reykjavik, Iceland 2014-2015.
WAAW, Saint Louis, Senegal. 2014
SERDE, Latvia. 2013.
Kronstadt, Russia. 2013.
Sfakiotes Residency Programme, Greece. 2011 and 2012.
