Iida Jonsson and Ssi Saarinen are a Berlin-based artist duo from the Åland Islands in the Finnish Archipelago. Their research-based practice is dedicated to developing an expanded understanding of the non-binary. They pursue this through multi-layered investigations into perceived dualisms, questioning received narratives around the natural and the built environment, institutional and geological history, and national and individual identity. Projects often span multiple years and evolve across a variety of media, with an emphasis on the perspective of the camera operator. Formally trained as cinematographers, Jonsson and Saarinen use film, photography, and the embodied movement of the camera - often shooting hand-held, without stabilizing devices, creating a choreography of and for the lens. They combine their cinematographic assays with archival materials, found objects and artifacts, original field research, and collaborations with sound artists and performers to translate these ongoing studies into formats for public display, with an emphasis on site-specific installations.
As such, their work operates within, outside, and between the walls of the “institution,” broadly defined — revealing the contours of the museum, the university, the archive, the state, and the edifice that is the art world in order to permeate them, opening new doors to interpretation and experience of the histories, ideas, and narrative environments that surround and structure life.
Suzanne, Terrarium, Greywater, Fuck U, Live at Volksbühne, and Silt were made with artist Ona Julija Lukas Steponaitytė. Vers Le Blanc was made with musician Hannes Ferm. Data Free Zone was made with researcher Victoria Harnesk.
Education
MFA Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm
Selected REsidencies
2026
Pioneer Works and Finnish Culture Institute, New York
Norberg Festivalen, Norberg
2025 HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme), Helsinki
2023 KIN Museum of Contemporary Art, Research residency, Kiruna SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2027
Index: The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm
“Suzanne: Rehearsal”
Liepāja Art Museum, European Capital
of Culture, Liepāja “Suzanne”
2026 Norberg Festival, Norberg “Jennie June: Riddle”
Pioneer Works, New York
“Jennie June: Test-Screening”
2025
The Eunane Craig Calvert White Foundation, Los Angeles ”Pins & Needles”
Draugų Vardai, Vilnius
“Suzanne: Test-Screening” HIAP Open Studio, Helsinki
“Finlandia” 032c Gallery, Berlin
“Doomscrolling” (group exhibition)
2024 Meduza, Vilnius “Drop of Dew”(screening and publication)
Reethaus, Berlin Art Week Featured
“Silt”
Inter Public, Copenhagen “November”
2023 Kunsthal Charlottenborg / Deep Forest
Art Land, Kibaek
“November II” KIN Museum of Contemporary Art,
Kiruna “Vanishing Points”
Number 1. Main Road, Berlin “The Great Cormorant”
2022
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen “Spring Exhibition” Kunstverein, Amsterdam “June” (group exhibition) De Thomas, Amsterdam “Terrarium and Greywater” Awards
Berlin Art Week Featured, 2024
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Spring Exhibition, Deep Forest Art Land, 2022
Press
‘Trip The Light Fantastic’, by
Victoria Camblin, Blau International
‘Premiering the live video collab of
“F**k U”’, by Andrew Pasquier,
Spike Art Magazine
‘Silt’
NR Magazine
appearing in 032c, Zweikommasieben, Flash Art, Art News, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Hufvudstadsbladet