Artists

Jenna Sutela

Press release

In this elemental drama set in the Pavilion of Finland, the five Venetian winds—Tramontana, two different Boras, Scirocco, and Garbin—become central protagonists, singing the weather while acting as guides for listening. By personifying the atmospheric forces that shape Venice and the increasingly volatile global climate, the work addresses environmental questions from the mundane to the existential. The project blends sound, music and movement, drawing on theatre traditions such as Commedia dell'arte as well as experimental language forms like grammelot. Working with hair artist Sara Mathiasson and scenographer Celeste Burlina, Sutela explores how wind shapes technology, climate science, spirituality and communication. Artist statement: "Against the logic of noise cancellation and weather prediction, Aeolian Suite embraces the wind's unpredictability and its fully relational being. We can only hear wind as it blows into, out of, or against things like trees, alleys, flutes, wings, or the Merihaansilta bridge in Helsinki. To listen to the wind – to let it take over the microphone, the voice, the recording – is a way of staying porous to the world, of recognizing that intelligence moves in more directions than we can see." Curator: Stefanie Hessler. Commissioner: Frame Contemporary Art Finland.