Maarit Suomi-Väänänen (MA) works as media artist and film director.
Her work also encompasses photography and installations, including the immaterial such as smoke and light.
Praised as fascinating, absurd and open to a multitude of interpretations, Suomi-Väänänen's awarded works
have toured over 30 countries, appearing in exhibitions, at festivals and on television.
Maarit Suomi-Väänänen (b. 1966) lives Helsinki, Finland and works with the artist´s stipendium granted by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
2011 she had solo exhibition in Toronto Canada, retro screening in Portland USA and group exhibition at Mänttä Art Festival Finland.
2012 will include i.a. Nordic Panorama 4 Cities in Quebec Canada by Regard Saguenay Film Festival, Travérse Festival Toulouse France, Arctic Heat Finland, Scandinavian House New York, KINOKINO Centre fo Art and Film Norge and Kone Foundation Residence in Finland.
In a Musty, Misty Thicket
Pik Mama and Missy are spending a boondocks day in a mysterious, musty thicket. (12min, installation 2011, film 2012)
Missy (Likka): Nina Renvall. Pik Mama: Appe Vanajas. Photo: Jarkko Liikanen.
Direction, script, edit, scenography, production: Maarit Suomi-Väänänen.
- Group exhibition at Mänttä Art Festival, Finland 12.6.-31.8.2011. Installation version. Curator: Otso Kantokorpi.
Art critic at Huvustadsbladet 18.6.2011, writer: Leena Kuumola http://hbl.fi/kultur/recension/2011-06-18/kaotiska-och-rorande-familjerelationer
“Maarit Suomi Väänänen`s absolutely absurd film is depicting scenes between mother and daughter in an environment where the Stone Age is joining with some urban elements. Nina Renvall`s excessively realistic presentation as Likka is irresistible, like Appe Vanajas in the role of Pik Mama...”
- Installation screening at Seanahk Art Festival, Haapsalu, Estonia 29.7.2011. Curator: Jaan Toomik and Johannes Deimling.
- All films screening at Grand Detour, Portland, USA, 18.10.2011, Recess Gallery
- Pori Festivals 18.12.2011. Curator: Anni Venäläinen
- Festival premier, Film Festival Rotterdam, Dinamo screening 27.1.2012
- Arctic Heat, competition, Jyväskylä Finland 2.2012
- TV-broadcast on Yle Teema, Uusi Kino, Finnish Broadcasting Company. Producer: Sari Volanen.
Up And About Again
UP AND ABOUT AGAIN (2009, 10min) is moved by motion, laid back in the outback.
Director, script, edit, production: Maarit Suomi-Väänänen.
Car specialist: Risto Hämäri. Photo: Jarkko Liikanen.
Latest shows:
- Nordic Short Film Panorama, 4 Cities Quebec Kanada: Chicoutimi, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec-city, Montréal
by Regard Saguenay Film Festival 14.-23.3.2012
- Scandinavian House New York, AV-arkki Screening 12.3.2012
- Solo exhibition, WARC Gallery, Toronto, Canada 29.10.-3.12.2011. Critic:
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CANADA: R. M. Vaughan: A road trip into our psyches
- Finnish Broadcasting Company, Re-Broadcast Uusi Kino, Yle Teema 8.12.2011 and 11.12.2011
- Turku 365, European Capital of Culture, Finland. 11.2011
- Avantgarde films in Drive-In Theatre, Fullframe, Wienna, Austria 21.9.2011
- Global Container, Culture Factory Polymer, Tallinn Estonia 26.8.2011. Curator: Sandra Jõgeva
- Reikäreuna Film Festival, Orivesi Finland 9.2011
- Videoarte Invisible 9, Fabrica Gambettola, Italy 18.7.-7.8.2011. By B&Bart Museo de Arte Contemporanea Italia Colombia.
- TV broadcasting YLE Teema, Kinomania, 14th of November, 2010.
- “Another one of MUFF's favourite's, Jalkeilla Taas (Up and About Again) by Maarit Suomi-Väänänen from Finland...”
MUFF Montreal Underground film Festival 12.-14.5.2011
- Lorenzo Jovanotti`s Tou r of the Stadium Concerts in Italy, un-conventional screening, spring-summer-autumn 2011
Up And About Again has shown on 100 venues in 24 countries.
The best short film in the international selection, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Montréal, Canada 2009
MINISPECTACLES (2010 trilogue/triptych) are one-minute works, cinematic haikus. The Minispectacle parts are Touché, Douche and Souche. To be continued.
- Helsinki Short Film Festival, Finland 11.11.2011
SPECIAL MENTION: "The mini film serie is an anarchistic diamond, that needs no refining." Jury: Maris Duncker, Anssi Kasitonni.
- Instant Cinema, Experimental Documentaries Channel,curator: Pablo Carrera
http://preview.instantcinema.org/expdocs/1093
- Traverse Vidéo, Toulouse, France 3.2012
- North End Studios, Detroit Design Festival, Detroit USA 25.9.2011, curator: Katherine Craig
- Instants Vidèo Numèriques et poètiques, Marseille, France 9.11.2011
- Bay Street Film Festival, Thunder Bay, Canada 29.9.-2.10.2011
- Reikäreuna Film Festival, Orivesi Finland 9.2011
- Culture Tram 7A, Helsinki Finland 5.4.-28.4.2011, curator: Saara Hacklin, AV-arkki
- Clermond-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Nordic Film Foundations at Market, France 3.2011
- IDFA, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, ParaDocs -program, Netherlands 2010
- 5e Biennale d´art contemporain de Bourges, Minicube at the Galerie Haidouc, France 18.-21.11.2010 (triptych)
- ATA Artists Television Access, Window Gallery Installation, San Francisco, U SA 1.10.-21.10.2010
- 14th Ismailia International Festival for Documentary & Short Films, competition, Egypt 9.2010
- Gallery 3h+k, Pori, Finland. Curator: Anni Venäläinen
- The international One Minute Film & Video Festival Aarau, competition, Switzerland 8.2010
- Kölner Filmhaus, Error compilation, Germany 10.2010
SALTY SNOW (8min, 2007) on YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company 13.7.2011, rebroadcast.
INSTANT CINEMA has gone alive!
See A BIT SCARY REALLY... (2005) at EYE Film Institute Netherlands Collection, curator: Anna Abrahams:
http://preview.instantcinema.org/eye/379/A-bit-scary-really
See more Maarit`s works:
http://preview.instantcinema.org/msuomi
FROM BANGLADESH BY HAND (b&w photos 1990)
- World Shop Juuttiputiikki Oulu, Finland 15.5.-15.6.2011
The first exhibition of Suomi-Väänänen from 20 years ago is exhibited concerning the Int. Fair Trade Day
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