JANI-MATTI SALO - AT TIMES (2026)
Installation with an imitation of a museum window frame, light, sound
In Search of the Present: On Rootlessness, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo
In At Times (Ajoittain), a work conceived for EMMA, the light gradually intensifies and then fades suddenly, faster than the eye can adjust. The resulting effect shifts the viewer’s focus of attention from the external world toward an interior experience. The form of the work echoes the row of windows in the WeeGee House, entering into dialogue with the landscape, the changing seasons, and the weather conditions outside. The installation also includes a soundscape that evolves in step with the wave-like movement of the light.
The work is part of the EMMA Collection and was produced with the support of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
JANI-MATTI SALO - PINTA-YTA (2025)
Temporary public artwork
Kulturhuset Fiini, Pori
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
Kulturhuset Fiini’s façade combines bricks salvaged from demolished on-site buildings with new ones whose textured surfaces show firing-borne natural variations and traces of masonry. Photographed details of the bricks are transformed into a slowly drifting, landscape-like video, creating the impression of gliding above the ground. The architecture becomes both the source of the imagery and the surface for its projection, revealing subtle layers of place and time.
The work was commissioned by Svenska Kulturfonden i Björneborg and developed at Granlund Oy in collaboration with JKMM Architects.
JANI-MATTI SALO - SUN I-II (2025)
Temporary public artwork
Horisontti Tower, Helsinki
Photos: Janne Hirvonen / Majakanvahti
Dozens of lights installed across the windows of a skyscraper form a sun over the rooftops of Helsinki.
The work was commissioned by SRV and developed at Granlund Oy.
WORK-IN-PROGRESS: MARK NISKANEN, MIKKO KAUKONEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - ROOM TONE / CRESCENDOS (2024-)
Photos: Mikko Kaukonen, Jani-Matti Salo
What kind of audio material could activate a visitor to sense the materiality of the room, as if they were inside an architectural sculpture? How can the atmosphere of a room be tuned through a soundscape – and how does it shape our sensory perceptions of place, architecture, structures, natural light, and the relationships between ourselves and objects?
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - PUU (TREE) (2024)
Temporary public artwork
Sports Hall Window, Helsinki
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
In the Puu (Tree) installation, a linden tree cut down in front of Töölö Sports Hall haunts through a LED advertisement sign. The tragicomic text is based on the intense tree-cutting discussions that took place on the internet. The artwork interacts with the landscape of the Mannerheimintie renovation.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - PILV-CLOUD (2024)
8-channel sound installation in collaboration with Inkeri Aula
Enter Woodland Spirits, European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, Estonia
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
In the circular Pilv-Cloud sound installation, a whispering ghost guides visitors on a multi-sensory journey through the four seasons and across time. This metaphorical ghost represents our fragile relationship with our environment, highlighting the imbalance that endangers our coexistence with nature and other beings. The installation’s text, drawn from Estonian Nature Folklore Archive as well as walking interviews conducted in the Tartu area in the spring of 2024, blends humorous and poetic in its fragmented narrative.
Pilv-Cloud was commissioned by Estonian Literary Museum / Tartu 2024. The work was produced with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and Frame Contemporary Art Finland.
INKERI AULA, MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - AISTILIPUTUS (SENSORY FLAGGING) (2023)
Temporary public artwork
Porin Juhlaviikot, Galleria 3H+K, Pori
Photos: Jan Virtanen, Niskanen & Salo
Video: Niskanen & Salo, Kata Sivunen (aerials)
The whimsical and poetic Aistiliputus (Sensory Flagging) highlights the sensory observations of the local residents regarding the changes and impacts of the Kokemäenjoki River, as well as its ghosts. The metaphor of ghosts represents fragile ecological relationships, the imbalance of which threatens our living environments. Aistiliputus celebrates the significance of local knowledge in fostering resilience as one response to the prevailing ecological crisis. Aistiliputus aims to create subtle interruptions, moments of awareness, and gestures of wonder in the everyday lives of city dwellers.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - A SCENE II (2021)
Public artwork
Kaivopuisto, Helsinki
Photo, video: Niskanen & Salo
A Scene II is a public sound installation based on the rhythms of sea mark lights in Helsinki harbor. The work can be experienced on the observation deck of the Kaivopuisto observatory via your mobile phone and headphones. On the hilltop, solar-powered sea mark lights are momentarily synchronized with the musical rhythms; they meet for a fleeting moment, and then the connection vanishes, over and over.
A Scene II follows the planetary movements, beginning an hour after dusk and running until sunrise. The changing weather conditions also affect the experience and make it unique for every visit. On light summer nights, the work can be viewed for only a few hours; in the winter, it can be experienced from the early afternoon.
A Scene II was commissioned by HAM Helsinki Art Museum for Helsinki Biennial 2021 and is part of the City of Helsinki Art Collection. The work was supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike), the Uusimaa Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Greta and William Lehtinen Foundation.
INKERI AULA, MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - GARDEN OF BECOMINGS (2021)
Multimedia publication, co-working platform
Photo: Niskanen & Salo
Garden of Becoming is both a multimedia publication and a co-working platform moving in the borderline of art and social research. This open-access publication in the form of a virtual 360 environment opens up and shares the accomplished work and the background elaborations of our three-member art/research collective.
The work was produced with the support of the Frame Contemporary Art Finland.
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MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - A SCENE (2021)
Site-specific video installation
Helsinki Biennial 2021, Vallisaari, Helsinki
Photos, video: Niskanen & Salo
A Scene invites visitors to immerse themselves in a nocturnal landscape in which every sea mark light around Vallisaari Island is assigned a particular musical note. Each light flashes at its own rhythm, creating a musical composition that slowly unfolds apace with the cycle of daylight.
A Scene was commissioned by HAM Helsinki Art Museum / Helsinki Biennial 2021. The work was produced with the kind support of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike), Uusimaa Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Greta and William Lehtinen Foundation.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - CLARE (2021)
Three-channel sound installation
Forum Box, Helsinki
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
Clare is a sound installation that creates intimate moments of hypotheticals. Clare filters thoughts from a 14-year archive of tweets and organizes them according to the psychoanalyst Karen Horney’s theory of inner conflicts.
The exhibition was supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
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MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - MURMURATIONS (2020)
Temporary public sound installation in collaboration with Inkeri Aula and SENSOTRA research project
Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York
Photos, video: Niskanen & Salo
Murmurations evokes cultural memory and aesthetics of the past while attempting to expose translocal truths of the present. Murmurations creates a visceral sensation of physical proximity in a time when distancing and division are the forced norm. The work is based on anonymous, fragmentary passages of sensory observations collected during sensobiographic walks with voluntary local participants, conducted near bodies of water in Europe and the United States.
Murmurations was commissioned by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York. The production was supported by AVEK – The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, and Panphonics.
INKERI AULA, MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - SADE ON TOISENLAISTA NYT (2020)
Three-channel sound installation in collaboration with SENSOTRA research project
Poriginal Gallery, Pori Art Museum
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
The sound installation Sade on toisenlaista nyt (The Rains Are Different Now) is a flow of sensory observations gathered from various locations. Constantly in flux, the work invites viewers to pause and perceive what the ghosts of our environment have to say. Sade on toisenlaista nyt consists of three simultaneous parts: no longer, now, and not yet.
The work was produced with the kind support the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) and Satakunta Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
INKERI AULA, MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - GHOST LIGHT (2020-2022)
Video artwork and temporary public artwork in collaboration SENSOTRA research project
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
In Ghost Light stories of interconnectedness of species are told by an undulating light on an empty theatre stage. The work is built around the concept of “ghosts”, traces of the past in our lived environment.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - BEING THERE (IF YOU COULD WALK IN MY SHOES (2019)
Sound installation in collaboration with Inkeri Aula
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
Photo: Niskanen & Salo
Being There (If you could walk in my shoes) is a sound installation, in which the anonymous person in a distant location is given a pair of small binaural in-ear microphones. Through the immersive binaural audio technology, the viewer vicariously lives through another person’s auditory experience.
The work was produced with the support of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - OHIKULKIJALLE (FOR THE PASSERBY) (2019)
Public artwork
Baana, Helsinki
Video: Niskanen & Salo
Mounted in a standard advertising light box, the work is based on motion and ephemerality and will appear different to every passer-by. The subtle changes in the work are produced by three superimposed patterns that give rise to a moiré or interference pattern when they move. The moiré patterns appear differently to all passers-by depending on the height, direction and distance of viewing.
Ohikulkijalle was commissioned by HAM Helsinki Art Museum and is part of the City of Helsinki Art Collection.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - FOCAL POINT (2018)
Light and sound installation
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
Focal Point is an installation composed of light, sound, and radiant heat. The visitor sits on a chair and puts on a pair of headphones. As the experience begins, the light emitted by a set of pinspot fixtures positioned in front of the viewer gradually intensifies, while their radiant warmth becomes perceptible on the skin. The sound heard through the headphones moves from a vast, austere interior space into an acoustically open outdoor environment before returning again. The light follows a wave-like cycle, fading from dim to bright and back to dim.
The work was produced with the kind support of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - WHEN I’M GONE, PLEASE DELETE MY VOICE MEMOS (2018)
Interactive installation
Art Quarter Budapest
Video: 235 AIR
When I’m Gone, Please Delete My Voice Memos is a performance installation for light and sound, based on anonymous group conversations between two locations.
The work was produced with the kind support of Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Art Quarter Budapest and Telepart. Production management by Let it be! Art Agency.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - NO NAMES (2016-2018)
Performance-installation
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
No Names is a performance-installation that creates an intimate platform for communication between two people. The installation consists of a light bulb attached to a microphone stand, a chair, and headphones. Unknowingly, by encountering the installation, a visitor becomes connected with a stranger. Their conversation remains private. Coincidently, the scene becomes a performance to those surrounding and observing the conversing participant.
The work was produced with the kind support of the Frey Foundation, AVEK, and Frame Contemporary Art Finland.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - PALMUDISKO (2017)
Interactive installation
URB Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
Palmudisko is an installation that consists of video projection, audio, and a palm tree. The museum visitor is invited to play music of their choice for the palm tree. The visual environment and the movement of the palm tree reacts to each visitor's songs.
The work was commissioned by the URB Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.
MARK NISKANEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - TÊTE-À-TÊTE (2016)
Performance-installation
Mana Contemporary, Chicago
Photos: Niskanen & Salo
Tête-à-tête (‘involving or happening between two people’ or, literally, ‘head-to-head’) is an improvisatory, multi-modal live performance, which derives many of its components directly from each space where it is performed.
The work was produced with the kind support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
KASPERI LAINE, JANI-MATTI SALO, VILLE SEPPÄNEN & HEIDI SOIDINSALO - SOUND OF MUSIC (IN A BOX) (2014-2016)
Performance-installation
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Uupi Tirronen
Sound of Music (in a box) explores the shifting boundary between music and sound art. After spending a year exposed to the elements—a piano by the sea and a gramophone in the forest—the instruments were transformed into resonant sound environments shaped by time, weather, and nature. How do you play an instrument that can no longer be played in its original way? What unexpected sounds emerge when it is approached with an open mind?
Created as part of Weather Station, a project organized by the Finnish OISTAT Centre, the work was first presented at MUU Gallery in Helsinki and later at the Finnish Pavilion of the Prague Quadrennial before concluding with the ceremonial burning of the piano in 2016.
HEIKKI PAASONEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - LINEAR ARRAY (2013)
Temporary public artwork
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
Linear Array is a site-specific installation in which dozens of fluorescent lamps illuminate the façades of Kiasma and Sanomatalo, highlighting their architectural rhythms and forms. The term linear array describes a linear arrangement of repeated architectural elements.
TIMO MUURINEN & JANI-MATTI SALO - KIASMA 5TH FLOOR (2012)
Site-specific installation
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Photos: Timo Muurinen
Kiasma 5th Floor is an installation that explores how the experience of space is shaped by materials, sound, and the spectator's movements. The work was inspired by architect Steven Holl's idea of a dialogue between light and space in the design of Kiasma. According to Holl, "space without light is oblivion." A floor plan of Kiasma is projected onto a wall, while a moving cursor traverses the image, continuously transforming the lighting and soundscape of the gallery.
The work was created as part of the Riisuttu Kiasma (Naked Kiasma) architecture event.