Featured: Mia Makela (Finland)

[singlepic id=194 w= h= float=left]Mia Makela (SOLU) is a finnish media+live cinema artist, teacher, investigator, curator and cultural activist residing in Berlin.

Her trajectory has led her from shamanistic studies to art. From art to media art and design. From media art to organization of events and workshops on contemporary digital culture. As part of fiftyfifty.org collective (until 2002), she organized Hacker Techniques workshops, Gameboy Sound Lab and Playtime event amongst other activities.

She started performing visuals in 2001 as SOLU at festivals around the world: SONIC ACTS (Amsterdam), SONAR (Barcelona), TRANSMEDIALE (Berlin), ZAGREB BIENNALE OF MUSIC, CIMATICS (Brussels), AVIT (Birmingham), MAPPING (Geneve), TRANSIT_MX (Mexico City), Live Cinema Nights (San Jose), Pixelache (Helsinki), ARS ELECTRONICA (Linz), BYTEME (Perth), MONKEY TOWN (NYC), ROXY BAR & SCREEN (London), STATE OF IMAGE (Arnhem), FESTIVAL POMLADI (Ljubljana), LARM (Stockholm)…. . She has collaborated with many experimental musicians including ARBOL, Heidi Mortenson, Dj Rupture and worked with theaters (Conservas, Dani Panullo Dance theater)

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Her work has been described as “A dark delirium of images, a disintegrated vision on a complex world – a digital version of William Blake’s poetry”. Her style ranges from minimal abstractions to multilayered compositions following a dreamlike narrative journey. She processes her visual material with MAX/MSP/JITTER, Isadora and Modul8.

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She has given lectures and written articles on various themes including live cinema, VJng, robots, audiovisual and digital culture and tactical sound. In 2006 she published her thesis on LIVE CINEMA language and elements, (Media laboratory, Helsinki) which gathers her experience on real-time visuals. The following year she edited widely distributed special issue on LIVE CINEMA for a:minima magazine/ book. Her latest workshop titled ”Audiovisual Real- time Creation” took place in Spain, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Finland and Mexico.