Hei!
I am Aliisa, a multi-disciplinary artist, facilitator, writer, researcher, and bread baker.
In my artistic practice I work with questions of human as well as more-than-human relationships and reparative interactions. From 2016 to 2021 I was part of Effort – a loose collective for studying how feminisms and design overlap, contradict and could work together. Apart from my creative practice I work part time as a sourdough bread baker.
Currently I am wondering what cultures and arrangements of care are, searching diverse kinships and observing structures that hamper or embrace them. I am interested in gendered, embodied and intangible heritages.
I work by reading, writing, talking, listening, pondering, baking, singing, performing, photographing, recording, mixing and editing. I enjoy learning, facilitating and working collaboratively.
I am born in South Ostrobothnia, my roots meander in western Finland and Karelia. Currently I am based in Helsinki. I work in Finnish and English. If you’d like to work together, be in touch!
Contact info:
Aliisa Talja // Helsinki, Finland // aliisa.talja(at)posteo.fi // +358504631719
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✐ EDUCATION
2016–2019 Aalto University
School of Art, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland // M.A. in Contemporary Design
2012-2016 Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland // B.A. in Industrial Design
2014/15 Universität der Künste, Department of Design Berlin, Germany // ERASMUS exchange
☛ FACILITATION & ORGANISING
09/2023 performer, facilitator, <
2022– co-creator, planner and facilitator of Spheres of Care event // W A U H A U S, Vuotalo (Helsinki) ANTI-festival (Kuopio) & Oulun kaupunki
2020–2021 co-planner, co-facilitator // Platform for Feminist Leadership II // UrbanApa, Helsinki
2019–2021 researcher, glossary writer and editor // Effort: Where are we? Grasping coloniality in design, Helsinki
2016– 2021 working group co-founder, research platform designer // Effort, Helsinki
05/2017 workshop planner, producer and facilitator // Designer as Feminist, Helsinki
02/2017 workshop planner and facilitator // Value Hunters workshop, Utopia Now! -exhibition Design Museum, Helsinki
10/2015 workshop planner and facilitator // Organic Sensors workshop, Bizarre Sound Creatures -exhibition, Het Glaspaviljoen, Eindhoven
✍︎ PUBLICATIONS
12/2022 Kolme huolenpidon piiriä: itse, yhteiskunta ja maa -essee // Filosofinen aikakauslehti niin & näin, Helsinki
12/2021 O is for offering (poem) and Y is for yeasts (photo series) // Musings: food, feminism, fermentation, Montreal, Canada
✌︎ GROUP EXHIBITIONS
09/2020 Suut & Syljet // Kosminen gallery, Helsinki
05/2020 Bread Omens: Fold like dough – Interconnected dough stream // MAA-tila project space, Helsinki & online
09/2017 RED” RED? RED! crafting plastic waste — Aalto ARTS Experimental Design HDW exhibition // BASSO pop-up space, Helsinki
10/2016 Musical Instruments in the 21st century — 3DMIN symposium exhibition // Design Transfer gallery, Berlin, Germany
05/2016 BOA 2016 — Bachelors of Arts Graduation Exhibition // Lume gallery, Helsinki, Finland
10/2015 Bizarre Sound Creatures — Dutch Design Week guerilla exhibition // Het Glaspaviljoen, Eindhoven, Netherlands
04/2015 RETHINK! Gender, Design & Media — Design Transfer gallery // Universität der Künste, Berlin, Germany
01/2015 Music Maker’s Hacklab — CTM festival // Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin
✑ EMPLOYMENT
06/2022–05/2023 baker // Panicuocoli sourdough bakery, Espoo, Finland
11–12/2019 research assistant // Studio Julia Lohmann, Helsinki, Finland
01–10/2019 student study advisor // Contemporary Design master’s programme, Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture
09–10/2018 teaching assistant — M.A. level course critical design practices // Contemporary Design master’s programme, Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture