The artist couple Jenni Luhta (née Markkanen, b. 1986) and Lauri Luhta (b. 1980), based in Helsinki, Finland, have worked together since 2015. Their background is in the field of experimental contemporary visual, media and performance art. Jenni Luhta is a visual artist who graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2012. In her videos, installations and live performances exhibited before 2015, Jenni specialized in creating narrative works about characters and self-portraits. Originally a sound artist, Lauri Luhta has been organizing and curating events and festivals of performance and media art since 2000, when he founded the live art forum Là-bas→, of which Jenni became a co-organizer in 2015.
During the years 2015–2018, Jenni and Lauri Luhta made both joint works and individual pieces influenced by each other, such as Kevätteologia (The Theology of Spring, a performance by Lauri, 2015), Kätketty kehä (The Hidden Circle, a performance by Jenni, 2015), Hyvän malli (The Model of Good, an exhibition by Jenni with music by Lauri at Sinne gallery, Helsinki, 2016). In 2017, Jenni moved away from site-specific works into creating virtual artifacts, a direction that was very much supported by Lauri. The new approach meant making experimental, visual-cinematic videos using digital collage technique. Suomen henki (The Spirit of Finland, a video by Jenni made for the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence, 2017) was the revelation of the new method. Lauri, who studied history, philosophy and theology in the university, contributed heavily to the content of Suomen henki as well as to the short Auttakaa (Help Me, a video by Jenni, 2018). After Jenni had taken the next step and started working on a full-length film in 2019, a decision was made in winter 2019–2020 that all the subsequent works by Jenni and Lauri Luhta would be joint efforts, ambitious digital works that would be applicable to both contemporary art and cinema audiences. Syndafloden (The Deluge, 1h 21m), a Swedish-speaking film based on the prophecies and riddles of Leonardo da Vinci, has been shown in various festivals around the world and received several awards (Best Writing, Best Production Design, Best Experimental). Currently Jenni and Lauri have completed their second full-length film Moses, which is about Sigmund Freud and the birth of monotheism. |
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