Marita Liulia

Marita Liulia (born 27 October 1957 in Perho, Finland) is a visual artist working primarily in interactive multimedia. Her debut CD-ROM Maire was among the first works of art published in this format in the world. Her production includes multi-platform media artworks, photography, paintings, short films, books and stage performances. Her works have been exhibited and performed in 50 countries and she has received numerous international awards. Liulia first became interested in photography, painting, experimental film and cultural history while studying at Savonlinna Upper Secondary School of Art and Music. She continued her artistic studies at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, and broadened her horizons also by studying aesthetics, literature and political history at the University of Helsinki, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986.

Liulia lives and works in Helsinki and Heinola, Finland. She is the owner and director of Medeia Ltd., a production company founded in 1997 which distributes her art and design works worldwide.

Marita Liulia has received numerous awards including Prix Möbius International, Prix Ars Electronica, Finland Prize and the Finnish Cultural Fund Prize for her achievements as an artist. She founded media culture competition Prix Möbius Nordica in 2000.

Artistic career Marita Liulia's started her artistic career in the theatre and during the 1980s she experimented with many different art forms. In cooperation with lighting and sound designers Ilkka Volanen and Tarja Ervasti she created several installation art pieces (e.g. Bone and Wing (1985), Zenon (1985), Mummies (1988), Testament (1988)), as well as multidisciplinary artworks in different media formats (e.g. Daimonion (1988), 8 min. from the Sun (1987) and To Indonesia (1986).

During the 1980s Liulia worked in different professions, for instance as a photographer and journalist in Southeast Asia and North Africa. "Liulia, who is fascinated by Asian culture, says she doesn’t mind travelling. As a child, she suffered from a long-term illness that forced her to stay home. Now she's making up for lost time."

Liulia about her transition to large multimedia projects: "(In the) late 1980s I started to study postmodern and gender theories with great appetite and ended up combining my old skills to new ideas to new technologies. It was a moment in my life when I finished writing the concept of the Jackpot interactive installation in 1991. After discussing with technicians I suddenly realized there is no other way - I had to start to work with computers. I used computers in the 1980s already while making sound and light installations. By the early nineties I had started to direct a team of professionals. Production of large multimedia programs started." Marita Liulia creates her multimedia art for a specific target audience: "I’m extremely interested in the people who use it."

Notable work Self-portraits 1980-90, from Schjerfbeck to Video Grate, 1990

Religion and Prostitution (paintings), 1990

Jackpot, 1991

An interactive installation piece exploring the world of advertising. Marita Liulia about Jackpot in 2004: "Advertising seems to be an unavoidable part of our daily life. I thought the context is an important part of the content. We think differently about images according to the context. I let people check if they can recognise this and build up a computer program in which one can see the results immediately. The format and interface was inspired by a popular game called Jackpot". -> website info

Ambitious Bitch, 1996

An extensive multimedia piece published in interactive CD-ROM format. Ambitious Bitch explored views of femininity in the modern world. It was also Marita Liulia's international artistic breakthrough. According to Marita Liulia, "Ambitious Bitch is a contemporary Western woman: well-educated, witty, understanding but demanding, fighting against old role models but always ready to laugh – even at herself. She may be a man-eater but definitely not a man-hater! Ambitious Bitch, distinctively combining art, research and technology, is a visual and intellectually playful outlook on Western femininity of our times. The many faces of femininity (and feminism) are revealed with sharp quotes by contemporary icons ranging from Mae West to Madonna, from Alexandra Kollontai to Vivienne Westwood. The playful sound design and excellent graphics add to the joy of discovery."

Ambitious Bitch also provoked questions about Liulia's feminism in her art, and she discussed the matter in 2000: "The field of the new media developed simultaneously with the high tide of feminism. Lots of (young) women got involved - expecting to avoid patriarchal hierarchies typical of the "old media" - like film. I considered studying film in the 1980s but quickly realized I will be 50 before the guys in power will allow me to make my first feature film - until that I would have also run out of ideas, I thought. None of my female film director friends ever made a feature film. In the multimedia nobody knew so much how to play boss. These days I think a female director is not a strange creature from outer space...but you have to be "a bulldozer", as you put it once. No mistakes allowed. Since this promising start the number of female students in technology has declined rapidly. (...) Me a cyber-feminist? Why not! It depends what you mean by this. Does it mean one is a feminist? For me it simply means a person who wants equality. Even in cyberspace. Let's add cyberspace to the list indeed (laughter) Some feminism is needed there, too." -> website info

Son of a Bitch (SOB), 1999

Liulia's first entirely fictional piece was also published in interactive CD-ROM format. SOB contemplated manhood and masculinity based on extensive research on Men's Studies. SOBs protagonist is Jacques L. Froid, a psychoanalyst of English-French origin. Marita Liulia about SOB in 1999: "After several years' immersion in women's issues I couldn't help but turn my gaze towards men. While women were fighting for their rights, exploring new areas and rewriting history into herstory, what was happening to men?” Liulia asks, and continues: “I lovingly named the CD-ROM Son of a Bitch. Our SOB man is a self-assured object of the viewer’s gaze. SOB is a (post)modern, urban, Western male. SOB’s problems may be new, but so are his possibilities. SOB turns his gaze toward the future rather than the past. Thus some old concepts like masculinity have to be reconsidered. What does the notion ‘man’ actually mean? Behind the obvious concepts we find constantly changing meanings." "I spent three years delving into the man’s world,” says Liulia. "I began to realise that men’s roles are much narrower than those of women." According to Liulia, Marita Liulia Tarot is a multiplatform concept which consists of 78 original art works, printed cards deck, a book, a website and interactive mobile phone versions. This popular “life skills game” has been translated into ten languages. The solo museum exhibitions include the prémiere in Museo Laboratorio d'arte Contemporanea dell'Universita La Sapienz, Rome, Italy (2003), HARA Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (2003), The Centre of Photography, Copenhagen, Denmark (2004), Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland (2004), Conde Duque, The City Museum of Madrid, Madrid, Spain (2005), National Gallery and National Museum of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand (2006). She has frequently performed as a witch during Marita Liulia Tarot shows, for instance at Techfest in 2014, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India. Marita Liulia pondered on the question of why people are so interested in Tarot in 2014: "People are interested in themselves. Tarot hardly tells you anything you don't know or feel already. The important thing is to want to understand what you already know. Sometimes we choose to be blind… I use Tarot as a thinking tool when I concentrate on a situation, a social issue, or a puzzling problem." -> website info Choosing My Religion, 2009

According to Liulia, Choosing My Religion views the major religions of the world particularly from the female point of view, and juxtaposes Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto. "The artist, who is also the model in her photos, has placed herself in roles that normally are reserved for men. The exhibition is divided into an artistic and a factual section. The artistic part focuses on the intense experiences offered by religions, while the factual section highlights the role of religions as our mental tools." The production includes also a Choosing My Religion website. The première of the touring exhibition was held in Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland, in 2009. -> website info

Collaborations Manipulator, with musician and composer Kimmo Pohjonen, 2001 HUNT, with dancer and choreographer Tero Saarinen, 2002 -> website info Animator, with Kimmo Pohjonen, 2004 -> website info Time Perspective, with Valérie Gabail (soprano), Mikko Perkola (viola da gamba), 2008 The Accordion Man, an animation film with Kimmo Pohjonen, 2009 -> website info Return of the Goddess, a short film, Virpi Pahkinen (dance), Sussan Deyhim and Richard Horowitz (music), 2012 -> website info Swan Song, a dance theatre performance, Minna Tervamäki, Ima Iduozee (dance), Tomas Djupsjöbacka and Ali Kesanto (music), 2014

Publications Marita Liulia Manual, Marita Liulia, WSOY, Finland, (in English and French), 1999 Marita Liulia, Art in the Age of Availability, Stella Bottai and Antonella Sbrilli Eletti, La Sapienza, Italy (English, Swedish), 2003 Tarot, Marita Liulia and Tiina Porthan, Publishing House Teos, Finland (Finnish), 2004 and 2009 Choosing My Religion – Uskontoja jäljittämässä, Marita Liulia, Maahenki, Finland, (English and Finnish), 2009 Golden Age, Marita Liulia, Parvs Publishing Ltd, Finland (Finnish and English), 2016 Marita Liulia''''', Pauli Sivonen, Arja Maunuksela, Parvs Publishing Ltd, Finland (Finnish and English), 2017