Jenna Sutela & Martti Kalliala (FI, 1983/1980)

Residency period: January-March 2025

jennasutela.com / amnesiascanner.net

Living and working in Berlin, Jenna Sutela (b. 1983) is a Finnish artist, whose work explores biological and computational systems, including the human microbiome and artificial neural networks. Her work takes the shape of sculptures, images (moving and still), sound, and text. It often includes collaboration with scientists and technologists as well as non-humans. Some of Sutela’s recent work connects machine learning with the more-than-human world, while exploring the ghosts in the intelligent machines of our creation. Another closely connected theme present in new works is ecology and ecosystems, as studied through biocomputing and radical low tech.

Also born in Finland and based in Berlin, Martti Kalliala (b. 1980) is a founding member of Amnesia Scanner, an experimental electronic music and performing arts group created together with another Finnish artist, Ville Haimala. Founded in 2014, Amnesia Scanner’s approach is informed by a unique perspective on technology and the way it mediates sound-based art practice. Educated as an architect, Kalliala is the author of many essays on culture, technology, and design, published in Harvard Design Magazine, Kaleidoscope, Flash Art, and others. Together with American artist and writer Emily Segal, he is also the co-founder of the alternative consultancy Nemesis.

Jenna Sutela & Martti Kalliala will engage in a research-driven residency at La Becque, furthering their respective and common interests in machine learning algorithms and generative audio techniques as means for interrogating the boundaries of human and more-than-human perception. Their work will include sonic and linguistic experiments with a focus on interspecies communication.