Marita Liulia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marita Liulia
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Portrait of Marita Liulia by Jari Kolehmainen, 2015.
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| Born | 27 October 1957 Perho, Finland
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Marita Liulia (born 27 October 1957) is a talented visual artist from Perho, Finland. She is famous for her work with interactive multimedia. This means she creates art that people can interact with, often using computers.
Her first big project was a CD-ROM called Maire in 1994. It was one of the first art pieces ever released in this way. Marita Liulia creates many types of art. These include media artworks, photos, paintings, short films, books, and even stage shows.
Her art has been shown and performed in 50 countries around the world. She has also won many international awards for her amazing work. Marita Liulia first got interested in art while studying in high school. She loved photography, painting, and experimental film. She also studied cultural history.
She continued her art studies at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. She also learned about aesthetics, literature, and political history at the University of Helsinki. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986.
Marita Liulia lives and works in Helsinki and Heinola, Finland. She runs her own company, Medeia Ltd., which she started in 1997. This company helps share her art and designs all over the world.
She has received many important awards. These include the Prix Möbius International and the Prix Ars Electronica. She also won the Finland Prize and the Finnish Cultural Fund Prize. In 2000, she even started her own media culture competition called Prix Möbius Nordica.
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Marita Liulia's Artistic Journey
Marita Liulia began her art career in the theatre. In the 1980s, she tried out many different art forms. She worked with lighting and sound designers to create installation art. These were art pieces that filled a space, like Bone and Wing (1985) and Mummies (1988).
She also made multi-artworks using different media. Examples include Daimonion (1988) and To Indonesia (1986). During the 1980s, Marita Liulia also worked as a photographer and journalist. She traveled to places like Southeast Asia and North Africa. She loves to travel and explore new cultures.
How Marita Liulia Started Using Computers in Art
Marita Liulia became very interested in new ideas about art and society in the late 1980s. She started to combine her old skills with new ideas and technology. She realized that computers would be very important for her art.
She had used computers for sound and light installations before. But by the early 1990s, she began to lead teams of experts. This allowed her to create large multimedia projects. She saw the computer screen as a "small theatre" where anything could happen.
Marita Liulia enjoys working with teams and learning about new technology. Her favorite tools are a computer and a camera. She creates art that combines different art forms, research, and technology. She believes art is about communication. She uses modern communication systems to share her art with people everywhere.
In 2001, Marita Liulia returned to theatre work. She created Manipulator and Animator with musician Kimmo Pohjonen.
HUNT: A Famous Dance Performance
One of her most famous works is HUNT. This is a dance performance created with dancer and choreographer Tero Saarinen. It has been a huge success around the world.
HUNT is Tero Saarinen's dance to Igor Stravinsky's music, The Rite of Spring. Marita Liulia created amazing multimedia effects for it. These effects are projected onto the dancer's body. The show has been performed 174 times in 82 cities and 32 countries. Critics have praised HUNT for its power and creativity.
Marita Liulia's Key Art Projects
Marita Liulia has created many important art projects. Here are some of her most well-known works.
Jackpot: Art and Advertising
Self-portraits 1980-90, from Schjerfbeck to Video Grate, 1990
In 2004, Marita Liulia talked about her project Jackpot. She noticed that advertising is everywhere in our daily lives. She wanted to explore how the setting of an image changes how we see it.
She created a computer program where people could see how they recognized different images. The idea for Jackpot came from a popular game show.
Maire: Exploring Finnish Modern Art
Maire, 1994
This was an interactive art piece and CD-ROM. It explored Finnish modern art. Marita Liulia wanted to combine art, technology, and science. This idea was inspired by Finnish modern artists from the 1930s.
Maire looks at how modern art developed in Finland from the 1930s until today. It also shares information about the life of Maire Gullichsen, a key figure in Finnish modernism. This project was Marita Liulia's big international success.
SOB: Understanding Men's Roles
Marita Liulia spent three years researching and creating SOB. This project explored what it means to be a man. She realized that men's roles in society can be quite limited.
Marita Liulia Tarot: A Modern Take on an Ancient Game
Marita Liulia Tarot, 2003
Marita Liulia created her own version of the traditional Tarot card game. Her Tarot art has been shown in many countries since 2003. She got her first Tarot deck in 1981.
This project combines her interests in history, society, and popular culture. The Tarot uses 78 cards to show different stages of life and types of people. Marita Liulia's Tarot includes 78 original artworks, a printed card deck, a book, a website, and mobile phone versions.
This popular "life skills game" has been translated into ten languages. Her Tarot art has been shown in museums in Rome, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Madrid, and Bangkok. She sometimes performs as a "witch" during her Tarot shows. She says Tarot helps people understand themselves and their thoughts.
Choosing My Religion: A Look at World Religions
Choosing My Religion, 2009
In this project, Marita Liulia looks at the world's major religions. She focuses on how they are seen from a female point of view. She explores Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto.
In her photos, Marita Liulia often plays roles that are usually taken by men. The exhibition has two parts. One part shows the strong feelings religions can create. The other part explains the main ideas of each religion.
The touring exhibition includes about 80 photographs, 15 paintings, and media installations. It also has documentaries and books. There is also a website for Choosing My Religion. The first exhibition was in Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland, in 2009.
Collaborations with Other Artists
Marita Liulia has worked with many other artists on exciting projects:
- 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) and 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, with Virpi Pahkinen (dance), Sussan Deyhim and Richard Horowitz (music), 2012 website info
- Swan Song, a dance theatre performance, with Minna Tervamäki, Ima Iduozee (dance), Tomas Djupsjöbacka and Ali Kesanto (music), 2014
