Jani-Matti Salo

A further major strength of the publication lies in the way Salo weaves his personal reflections into the analytical narrative. Sometimes, this mode of writing departs from conventional academic writing and moves towards openly articulated concerns and uncertainties regarding the state of contemporary artistic and ecological conditions. For the reader, however, this authorial presence is engaging. It produces a rare sense of proximity to the researcher’s thinking process, an aspect that is largely absent from most academic writing in the field. Equally impressive is the level of professional expertise and practical command demonstrated throughout the publication. The problems addressed emerge not from theoretical positioning alone, but from long-term professional experience and a thorough understanding of the technical, organisational and artistic realities of lighting and media-based performance practice.

Review / Jani-Matti Salo - Reorientations
Taavet Jansen, Näyttämö ja tutkimus 1/2026
https://journal.fi/teats/article/view/182159

Article / Jani-Matti Salo - At Times (Ajoittain)
Helsingin Sanomat 20.3.2026
https://www.hs.fi/taide/art-2000011892501.html

Interview / Jani-Matti Salo - At Times (Ajoittain)
YLE 13.3.2026
https://yle.fi/a/74-20214760

The view from the Ursa Observatory at Kaivopuisto park, on the southern tip of Helsinki, encapsulates the ruggedness of the Finnish capital. Beyond a wisp of beach, the Gulf of Finland stretches to the horizon, splashed with low-lying islands green with pines. As the evening light wanes, I reach for my phone and tap ‘play’, triggering a soundscape of flitting piano notes. I can’t perceive any particular melody, but there’s reason to their rhyme. Each is assigned to a historic lighthouse in the archipelago, matching their respective tempos as they flash on and off. The notes play together, then taper off, crescendo and dwindle, like a symphony of fireflies.

The sound installation, called ‘A Scene II’ and accessible via a dedicated web page, is the brainchild of Mark Niskanen and Jani-Matti Salo, local artists who work mainly outdoors to enhance our experience of nature. “This artwork emphasises human transience against the vastness of the sea,” Mark tells me later, as we sit under a sailcloth canopy on the waterfront terrace at Café Ursula, just downhill. “Nearly all maritime markers in the gulf operate on solar energy. If humanity were to disappear, these lights would continue to blink for over a decade.” In other destinations, Mark and Jani-Matti might be considered to be operating on the margins of the art world. But here, they’re simply Helsinkians, citizens of a place where nature seeps into every facet of life, especially creative life.

Article / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene II
The National Geographic Traveller October 2025
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/in-finlands-capital-helsinki-nature-and-city-life-blend-seamlessly

It is fascinating to observe how auditory perception changes in relation to the visual and spatial—yet also temporal—experience of the place.

As a public sound work, A Scene II recalls the early history of sound art, before it entered the gallery space. One of the pioneers of the field, Max Neuhaus, created the work Drive-in Music in 1967. It was experienced by tuning a car radio to a certain frequency and driving along Lincoln Parkway in Buffalo, where the radio would pick up signals from transmitters installed along the road. Neuhaus’s work, too, existed in the ether, on radio frequencies—just as the music of A Scene II can be accessed online.

Niskanen and Salo’s work is also site-specific, yet the presence of the observatory easily sets the imagination in motion. Before lighthouses and illuminated beacons, mariners navigated by the stars—stars that modern city dwellers rarely see beneath the glow of artificial light.

From this perspective, A Scene II, as music for maritime markers, can be seen as a secular version of the “music of the spheres”—the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras’ idea of a cosmos in which the movements of celestial bodies form a harmonious whole, akin to music.

This idea reflects a common human longing for order. A Scene II reminds us that even in a modern world saturated with science and technology—where comforting illusions are dismantled—it is still possible to experience beauty. But that beauty is inevitably different than in earlier historical eras.

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene II
Iso Numero 11/2024
isonumero202411.pdf (3.4Mt, in Finnish)

Interview / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Puu (Tree)
Töölöläinen 25.8.2024
view.taiqa.com/botniaprint/toololainen-2024-nro-14#/page=2

In technological arts, technology is often viewed similarly to nature as a neutral phenomenon. There is no assessment of good or bad, and likewise, there is usually no (in a completely Deleuzian sense) imposition of a directing central control system on the field of technological solutions. Individual machines carry out their solitary tasks and may occasionally become communicative when a suitable structure of mutual placement forms for this purpose, or when a person actively seeks contact with them. For example, the sound installation "Pilv-Cloud" by Niskanen, Salo, and Aula attempts to convey some kind of message to a receptive person in this way, but the whispering and strong ASMR reactions quickly divert attention away from the narrative part that emerges, leaving only the physical contact with the sound in focus. The panels clearly communicate more with each other than with the human listener. In this sense, forest spirits and machines can be quite similar entities on the large playing field of nature. In a Latourian sense, they may even form connections with each other more easily than either would with humans. This assumption can indeed be taken as a basis for viewing the "Enter Woodland Spirits" exhibition.

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo in collaboration with Inkeri Aula - Pilv-Cloud
Sirp - Eesti Kultuurileht 23.8.2024
www.sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/harjapolvlaste-kaitseala/ (in Estonian)

The best work of the exhibition is probably the sound installation “Cloud”, which took place in a room with windows covered in yellow film and rock display cases from the Geology Museum. The idea is, among other things, that the patient looking out of the window sees Hurda Park, but not only in yellow, but also in double vision, as the aural ghost surrounding them (from speakers arranged in a circle) whispers what they will see there 100 years later.

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo in collaboration with Inkeri Aula - Pilv-Cloud
Edasi.org 21.8.2024
edasi.org/235723/naitusearvustus-erkki-luuk-tont-ja-teised-vaimud-metsavaimud-masinas/ (in Estonian)

Article / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Puu (Tree)
Helsingin Sanomat 16.8.2024
www.hs.fi/taide/art-2000010633397.html (in Finnish)

Article / Inkeri Aula, Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Sensory Flagging (Aistiliputus)
Havaintoja julkisesta taiteesta
Taide 5-6/2023
taidelehti.fi/havaintoja-julkisesta-taiteesta (in Finnish)

As a corollary practice of sensobiography, art collaboration is a versatile field of possibilities in communicating about research, and in formulating environmental knowledge in multisensorial encounters. We have come a long way from a positivist objectivity to a post-qualitative field of discussion, where ethnographic data cannot be simply collected from a fixed reality, but it is produced in a collaborative process entailing particular perspectives.

Article / Inkeri Aula, Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - The Rains Are Different Now
Aula, I (2023). Creative environmental relationships enhance resilience: Sensobiographic walks at Kokemäenjoki river.
Understanding Marine Changes: Environmental Knowledge and Methods of Research. Edward Elgar, Pages 175-195.
www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook/book/9781035311118/9781035311118.xml

Review / WAUHAUS - neljän päivän läheisyys (Direction & design with Laura Haapakangas, Juni Klein, and Heidi Soidinsalo)
Mustekala 3.10.2023
https://mustekala.info/kaksi-esitysta-rannalla/

Review / WAUHAUS - neljän päivän läheisyys (Direction & design with Laura Haapakangas, Juni Klein, and Heidi Soidinsalo)
Helsingin Sanomat 14.9.2023
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000009851174.html

Interview / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene II
Helsingin Sanomat 21.7.2023
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000009669066.html (in Finnish)

Article / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene II
Ljokkoi, K. (2022). Solmuissa, suhteissa, kerrostumissa: Ei-inhimillisiä toimijuuksia Helsinki Biennaalin 2021 teoksissa.
Tahiti, 12(3), 99–110. https://doi.org/10.23995/tht.122315 (in Finnish)

Article / Inkeri Aula, Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Being There, Ghost Light, The Rains Are Different Now, Murmurations, Garden of Becomings
Aula, I (2022). Keskinäisen vaikuttumisen tiede ja taide ympäristökriisien keskellä.
T Kinnunen & J Venäläinen (toim), Kulttuurintutkimus tietämisen tapana. Tampere.
https://vastapaino.fi/sivu/tuote/kulttuurintutkimus-tietamisen-tapana/4277062 (in Finnish)

Podcast / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene II
Patsastelua (episode 5), Yle Radio 1, Yle Areena 5.7.2022
https://areena.yle.fi/audio/1-62508789 (in Finnish)

Interview / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene, A Scene II
Published on the Helsinki Biennial 2021 exhibition catalog The Same Sea
https://www.niskanensalo.com/ascene-interview (in English and Finnish)

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene II
Dagens Nyheter 24.7.2021 (in Swedish)
https://www.dn.se/kultur/ambitios-helsing forsbiennal-i-naturskon-miljo/

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene, A Scene II
Helsingin Sanomat 3.7.2021
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000008090288.html

Podcast / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo in collaboration with Inkeri Aula - Murmurations
The FCINY
Withstanding: MAKING ART IN THE PUBLIC REALM 2.7.2021
https://fciny.org/news/withstanding (in English)

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene
Rumba 11.6.2021
https://www.rumba.fi/uutiset/ajankohtaisten-aiheiden-ja-utopian-valimaastossa-helsinki-biennaali-levittaytyy-vallisaareen/ (in Finnish)

Essay / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene, A Scene II
Maiju Loukola - A SCENE - [näyttämö, näytäntö, näyttö, ättä, näkymätön, näky-mä]’ (in Finnish)
https://helsinkibiennaali.fi/a-scene-essee/ (in Finnish)

Interview / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - A Scene
Svenska Yle 12.6.2021
https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-10001904 (in Swedish)

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Clare
Oona Latto 10.5.2021
https://oonabee.wordpress.com/2021/05/10/mita-jos/ (in Finnish)

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Clare
Mustekala 15.4.2021
http://mustekala.info/kritiikit/miehisen-kulttuurin-laulu-benjamin-orlow-a-spring-bright-evening/ (in Finnish)

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Clare
Helsingin Sanomat 13.4.2021
hs_kritiikki_13042021.pdf (4.4MB, in Finnish)

Interview / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Murmurations
Svenska YLE 1.11.2020
https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2020/11/01/finlandska-konstnarer-i-new-york-anpassar-sig-till-det-nya-normala (in Swedish)

Review / Jani-Matti Salo (Lighting Designs)
Uniarts / Nykyesityksen kritiikki
https://blogit.uniarts.fi/kirjoitus/nykyesitykset-ja-kritiikki-kurssin-esseita-jani-salo-yhdistaa-kasityolaisyyden-ja-kasitteellisyyden/

Review / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Ohikulkijalle (For The Passerby)
Julkisten johdattamana
Taide 3/2020 (in Finnish)

Review / Inkeri Aula, Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - The Rains Are Different Now
Satakunnan Kansa 14.9.2020
sk_kritiikki_14092020.pdf (508kt, in Finnish)

Artist talk / Inkeri Aula, Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Ghost Light
Ghost Light in Conversation: On Art and Sensory Research 8.7.2020
https://www.manacontemporary.com/event/ghost-light-in-conversation-on-sensory-research/ (in English)

Review / WAUHAUS & Minna Leino - Sapiens (Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo)
Mustekala 17.9.20219
https://mustekala.info/sapiens-tarkeinta-on-kysy a/

Review / WAUHAUS & Minna Leino - Sapiens (Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo)
Helsingin Sanomat 12.9.2019
www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000006236275.html

Review / TADaC - Their Limbs Their Lungs Their Legs (Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo)
HBL 26.1.2019
https://www.hbl.fi/artikel/gront-ar-skont/

Review / TADaC - Their Limbs Their Lungs Their Legs
Helsingin Sanomat 20.1.2019
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000005971858.html

Interview / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo
Finnish Art Agency 7.1.2019
https://www.finnishartagency.com/interview-with-artists-mark-niskanen-and-jani-matti-salo/ (in English)

Review / Pipsa Lonka - Den Andra Naturen (Lighting Design & Video Design: Jani-Matti Salo, Mark Niskanen)
Helsingin Sanomat 7.3.2018
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000005594915.html

Review / Q-teatteri - Mount Everest (Set Design & Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo, Mark Niskanen)
Helsingin Sanomat 20.9.2018
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000005834925.html

Review / Cirkus Cirkör - Under (Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo)
Svenska Dagbladet 4.10.2017
https://www.svd.se/a/51X8b/cirkuskonst-i-vantan-pa-ett-under

Review / Cirkus Cirkör - Under (Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo)
Dagens Nyheter 16.9.2017
https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/scenrecensioner/cirkus-cirkor-under-om-manniskor-mot-vader-pa-vastmanlands-teater/

Interview / Mark Niskanen & Jani-Matti Salo - Palmudisko
YLE Kultakuume 2.8.2017
https://areena.yle.fi/podcastit/1-4155363

Review / Ona Kamu Kollektiivi - Pyramidi (Spatial Design, Lighting Design, Video Design: Jani-Matti Salo)
Helsingin Sanomat 27.1.2017
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/tanssiarvostelu/art-2000005063193.html

Review / WAUHAUS - Flashdance (Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo, Samuli Laine)
Helsingin Sanomat 9.12.2016
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/tanssiarvostelu/art-2000004998713.html