visual artist and filmmaker
tinja.ruusuvuori (at) gmail.com
tinja.ruusuvuori (at) gmail.com
I am an artist and filmmaker who enjoys exploring various disciplines, with a focus on subjective and creative documentary-making. I’m interested in choosing charged objects, images, and gestures that are obeying some mysterious order - and cultivating rather than eradicating that sense of uncertainty. Through this investigation of everyday phenomena, it emerges that these stand as metaphors for wider questions about how and why we live together. With tenderness, humor and open ended process, I seek to question a forward trajectory. This often involves an invitation to others to coauthor and collaborate. I hold an MLitt in Fine Art Practice from the Glasgow School of Art and a BA in documentary film from Aalto University, Helsinki. My work has been shown at film festivals such as Visions du Réel, Toronto Hot Docs, Clermont-Ferrand, Camden International Film Festival, and London Short Film Festival. I was honored to be a visual art fellow at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. Currently, I live and work in Tampere, Finland.
CV
Education
2018 Master of Letters in Fine Art Practice, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK
2016 BA in documentary film directing, Aalto University the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, FI
Films
2024 Within touching distance; an experiment, video work with Niamh Moloney, 9min
2021-2023 Undoings, part 1-3, crowd-sourced video work, 20min, 15min and 16min
2019 Logbook, video work, with Emilia Rüf, 12 min
2019 Untitled (burned rubber on asphalt, 2018), documentary film, 21 min
2018 Daily Hauntings, video work, 8 min
2015 Friday Child, documentary film, 16 min
2014 Death of Money Tree, documentary film, 4 min
Exhibitions
2024 Speaking Into Being with Niamh Moloney, Glasgow Project Room, UK
2024 Grounded-- Pulsating, The Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Provincetown, US
2023 Server error occurred while getting Cemetery with Georgia Dickie, The Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Provincetown, US
2021 Flock Circumstances with Aga Paulina Mlynczak and Madde Edlund, curated by Aga Paulina Mlynczak, assistant curator: Nell Cardozo, 16 Nicholson Street gallery, Glasgow, UK
2019 Logbook with Emilia Rüf, Turun Taidehalli (Kunsthalle Turku), Turku, FI
2019 Logbook with Emilia Rüf, Galleria Rantakasarmi (Jetty Barracks Gallery), Helsinki, FI
Group shows
2024 FAWC Fellows, Provincetown Arts Association and Museum PAAM, Massachusetts, US
2023 Pinni47, purkutaidetalo / demolition art house, Tampere, FI
2023 FAWC Fellows Provincetown Arts Association and Museum PAAM, Massachusetts, US
2019 Relay, Tramway, Glasgow, UK
2018 GSA graduate degree show 2018, Tontine Building, Glasgow, UK
2018 Top 40 Juried Competition, LACDA - Los Angeles Centre for Digital Art, curated by Rebecca Matalon, U.S.
2017 Fear of White Walls, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow, UK
2016 A flying kiss for paper cells, pixel bones and a big fat origami, collective installation, text in a space and body diary on TitanPad platform. Together with Aura Saarikoski, Eeva Hannula and Liina Kuittinen, Curated by Maria Savela, Kuvan Kevät, Helsinki, FI
Screenings
2021
Braziers International Film Festival, UK
2020
Clermont-Ferrand, FRA
London International Short Film Festival, ICA, UK
Glasgow Short Film Festival, Scotland
Trento Film Festival, Italy
Tromsø International Film Festival, Norway
Minimalen Short Film Festival, Norway
Go Short, Netherlands
Expanded Cinema film screening, Exhibition Laboratory, FI
2019
Camden International Film Festival, Short Competition, Camden, U.S.
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
DUMBO Film Festival, New York, U.S.
Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival, Brazil
Tacoma Film Festival, WA, U.S.
Indy Shorts, Indianapolis, U.S.
Pittsburg Short Film Festival, U.S.
Leeds International Film Festival, UK
Ljubljana International Film Festival, Slovenia
Nordisk Panorama, short competition, Sweden
Poitiers Film Festival, France
Love & Anarchy Helsinki International Film Festival, short competition, Helsinki, FI
Riga International Film Festival, international competition, Latvia
38th Uppsala International Film Festival, international competition, Sweden
Interfilm, Berlin, Germany
34th Midnight Sun Film Festival, Sodankylä, FI
Encounters, UK
Curtas Vila do Conde, Portugal
Alciné, Madrid, Spain
Short Waves, Poland
Wiz-Art, Ukraine
Brussels Short Film Festival, Bergium
The Norwegian Short Film Festival, Grimstad, Norway
OFF - Odense International Film Festival, DE
Lago Film Fest, Italy
The Best of Tampere Film Festival screening, Kiasma, Helsinki, FI
Tampere Film Festival, national competition, FI (premiere)
Visions du Réel, Opening Scenes, Nyon, Switzerland (premiere)
2018
AAVE Festival, screening curated by Egle Oddo, Helsinki, FI
2016
EMAP 2016 – Ewha International Media Art Presentation, curated by Pontus Kyander, Seoul, South-Korea
Lisbon International Film Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
IFEMA – International Female Film Festival Malmö, Sweden
FUFF Finno-Ugric Film Festival, Estonia
Love & Anarchy - Helsinki International Film Festival, FI
DocPoint - Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, FI
Tampere Film Festival, Tampere, FI
2015
Family Film Project, Porto, Portugal
Szczecin International Film Festival, Szczecin, Poland
Northern Wave International Film Festival, Iceland
Oulu International Children and Youth Film Festival, Oulu, FI
First Step Film Fest, Albania
Prizes and Nominations
2020 Best Nordic Documentary Award at Minimalen Short Film Festival
2019 Jury's Special Prize, Poitiers Film Festival
2019 The Uusi Aalto Award / Love & Anarchy Helsinki International Film Festival
2019 Jussi Award shortlisted for the Best Finnish Short Film
2019 Honorable mention / Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad
2019 Main Prize under 30 min. documentaries / National Competition / Tampere Film Festival
2019 Nominee for the European Short Film Audience Award
2019 Student Award / Tampere Film Festival
Publications and Press
27.3.2024 Tinja Ruusuvuori Practices Giving Up Control / Abraham Storer / Provincetown Independent
12.1.2024 A Grab Bag of Goodies from the Edge of the World / Jacqueline Houton / Boston Art Review
4.1.2024 Radio of Uncertainty - sound echoes at Provincetown's FAWC / 10 for 2024 / Laura Shabott / Artscope
28.12.2023 Marconi Mythology / Aden Choate / Provincetown Independent
18.10.2023 New Kids on the Block / Elias Duncan / Provincetown Independent
22.6.2023 “Paskannäköisen” toimistorakennuksen kaunis loppu – purkutaidetalo Pinni47 on enemmän kuin pelkkä ryhmänäyttely / Antti Kurko / Voima
6.6.2023 Onko tässä kesän hittikohde? / Sanni Isomäki / Yle
5.4.2023 Tampereen keskustassa toteutetaan poikkeuksellinen taideprojekti – ensin talo täyttyy taiteella ja lopuksi koko rakennus puretaan / Nina Lehtinen / Aamulehti
22.2.2023 Creating a System for the Nonsensical / Amelia Roth-Dishy / Provincetown Independent
25.1.2023 The New FAWC Fellows Make Their Mark / Abraham Storer / Provincetown Independent
2021 New Rituals - in Contemporary Art in Scotland and Austria, edited by Oktavia Schreiner
2021 Flock Circumstances, 16 Nicholson Street Publications
21.12.2019 Tinja Ruusuvuoren hykerryttävä lyhytdokumentti selvittää salaperäisten rengasjälkien alkuperää Norjassa / Harri Römpötti / Helsingin Sanomat
23.5.19 Välimeren kulkijat / Heli Peltoniemi / Turun Sanomat
15.5.2016 Melkein kuin performanssi / Tuomas Laulainen / EDIT
Relevant Coursework
2024 DOC FORWARD Talent Workshop, Europe
2023 Free Radio Pyrenees with Magz Hall and Andrew O'Connor, CAMP FR, France
2019 Opening Scenes Lab, Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland
2019 Access to fabrication and welding, New College of Lanarkshire, Glasgow, UK
2017 DOX: ACADEMY and Project Lab – pitching workshop CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, Denmark
2015 Surviving the Rabbit Hole - pitching and screenwriting workshop WIFT Nordic, Iceland
2010-2011 Critical Academy’s creative writing course, Helsinki, FI
2010-2011 How to Inhabit a Transitory Space – Art School MAA, Helsinki, FI
Memberships and Related Experience
2021- MUU ry - Artists’ Association MUU
2020 Jury member for the Tampere Film Festival's national competition, FI
2018–2021 member, Glasgow Sculpture Studios
2018–2019 Committee member, FLING an artist led project to connect Masters graduates in Fine Art and Curatorial Practice in Glasgow and London
2016– member, The Finnish documentary guild
2008-2017 freelance writer and director in the YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company
Residencies and Fellowships
2023-2024 Robert Motherwell Visual Arts Fellow, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, MA, US
2022-2023 Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, MA, US
2018 Graduate Residency, Hospitalfield, Scotland, UK
2016 Cité International Des Arts, Paris, FRA
Funding and support
Work has been generously supported by the following organisations and funding bodies: The Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture Finland, The Finnish Film Foundation SES, Kansan Sivistysrahasto