JAAKKO AUTIO

Contemplative Sound Art
Immersive Media Installations

BIO

Jaakko Autio is a Finnish sound and media artist working within the field of contemplative sound art. He builds spatial sound architectures that invite collective attention into clarity.

His work emerges from collaborative listening practices and from a sustained inquiry into how shared perception organizes itself. These dimensions are collectively shaped and structurally understood and are intertwined in all his installations.

Autio’s immersive multi-channel environments begin from warmth: breath, proximity and shared presence in space. Rather than delivering messages, he composes the conditions under which perception can settle and reorganize. Meaning does not arrive through explanation. It emerges through duration, embodiment and relational awareness.

Beneath this experiential warmth lies a long-term investigation into the structure of lived experience. Autio explores how attention stabilizes, dissolves and re-forms within shared environments. Breath, resonance and spatialized sound function as experiential components rather than symbolic devices. Environmental rhythms — wind, water, resonance and collective presence — gradually become perceptible within these spaces.

The works are not devotional. They are research-based explorations of embodied perception and collective presence, where listening becomes a way of sensing how humans and environments co-organize experience.

Autio’s installations have been presented in museums and festivals across Finland and internationally, reaching over 75,000 visitors in 2024. Recent highlights include OWLA (Oulu Art Museum, 56 singers, 2023), Harmony in Displacement (26 Ukrainian and Finnish performers, 2024), and the ongoing ON THE BORDER series (2022 onward), developed at the Estonian–Russian frontier.

In 2024–2025, Autio realized the extensive RE series, exploring return, resonance and embodied listening as modes of reorganizing attention. This cycle culminated in RE-BIRTH (MUU Gallery, Helsinki, 2025), a 40-channel installation combining breath choir, spatialized piano, tactile low-frequency sound, poetic headphone monologues and generative video.

His current multi-year INTER series expands this inquiry into relational, ecological and multispecies contexts, exploring how environmental rhythms — wind, water, ice and shared presence — become perceptually tangible within human experience.

Educated at Metropolia (BA, 2008) and the Theatre Academy of Uniarts Helsinki (MA, 2013), Autio works from his studio in Toijala, Finland.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work begins from warmth. I build immersive sound environments where collective attention can settle before intensity gathers.

These installations function as spatial architectures of listening. Through breath, voices, low-frequency resonance and multi-channel composition, I create conditions in which perception can clarify itself. The work is not a message but a field. Meaning emerges through time, shared presence and embodied duration.

At its core, my practice investigates how experience organizes itself in space. Listening becomes both method and medium.

My long-term contemplative practice informs the pacing, dramaturgy and acoustic ecology of the work. The installations do not require belief systems. They invite perceptual inquiry.

Ultimately, I seek to create environments where shared experience becomes perceptually tangible — where the subtle rhythms of attention, breath and environment can be sensed as part of a living field.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Jaakko Autio
Sound and media artist

Education

2010–2013 Uniarts Helsinki / Theatre Academy (TEAK), Sound Design (MA)
2003–2008 Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Film Sound Design (BA)

Collections

2025 Aine Art Museum (Tornio)
RE-VERB, collection acquisition

Upcoming or ongoing installations

2026 Oulu City Museum / Arrival
2026 Ylivieska, Akustiikka Galleria Oiva / Inter-Field
2026 Jurmo / Inter-Horizon

Installations and exhibitions (selected)

Autio’s installation practice unfolds through long-term series examining spatial listening and relational environments.

RE SERIES

2025 Aine Art Museum (Tornio) / Snowball Effect / RE-VERB, Chapter II
2025 MUU Galleria (Helsinki) / RE-BIRTH
2025 Galleria Aski (Turku) / RE_SOUND (Autio & Akasaka)
2025 Möhkönvirta Contemporary Art Exhibition / RE-DITUS
2025 Galleria Villa Suruton (Savonlinna) / RE-FLORIS
2025 KITA Galleria (Joutsa) / RE-VERB, Chapter I

2025 Galleria Aski (Turku) / Re-Sound (Autio & Akasaka)

INTER SERIES

2025 One-to-One Festival (Oeiras, PT) / INTER-WITHIN
2025 One-to-One Festival (Oulu) / INTER-WITHIN
2024 Taidekeskus AHJO (Joensuu) / Urbana Hortus / INTER-WITHIN

BORDER SERIES

2024 Haihatus Summer Exhibition / Harmony in Displacement
2024 Demolition Art Exhibition (Helsinki) / OrigiNation
2023 Vene Teatern COMPOSTER Festival (Tallinn) / OrigiNation, Part III
2023 Tampere-Maja (Tartu, EE) / OrigiNation, Part II
2023 Joensuu Art Museum, M_itä Biennial / OrigiNation, Part I
2022 Porvoo Art Factory / On the Border, Part V
2022 World Cities Culture Summit (Helsinki Opera House) / On the Border, Part IV
2022 KOGO Galleria (Tartu, EE) / On the Border, Part III
2022 NART Galleria (Narva, EE) / On the Border, Part II
2022 Tallinn Music Week (Narva, Kreenholm) / On the Border, Part I

EARLIER AND PARALLEL WORKS

2024–2025 Annantalo (Helsinki) / Table for Two (Pöytä kahdelle)
2023 Voipaalan taidekeskus (Sattuman Vaara) / Table for Two (Pöytä kahdelle)
2023 Varsinaista kulttuuria project / Table for Two (Pöytä kahdelle)
2023 Malmitalo Gallery (Helsinki) / Table for Two, Part V (Pöytä kahdelle, osa V)
2023 Volter Kilpi (Kustavi), Literature Week / Table for Two, Part IV (Pöytä kahdelle, osa IV)
2023 Olohuone Festival (Turku) / Table for Two, Part III (Pöytä kahdelle, osa III)
2022 Turku Main Library, Music Department / Table for Two, Part I (Pöytä kahdelle, osa I)
2023 Oulu Museum of Art / OWLA
2023–2025 Oulu Museum of Art – care homes in Kainuu & Ostrobothnia / The Song of Time
2025 Aletheia Fest / TransLate
2024–2025 NART Galleria (Narva, EE) / Possible Worlds
2025 ARS Kunstilinnaki (Tallinn, EE) – Under the Surface / Mirror
2024–2025 Tartu Art Museum (EE) / The Secrets of the Leaning Building
2023 Museosaari (Aholansaari) / Kohta
2022 Galleria Aarni (Espoo) / Intimacy, Part III (Läheisyys, osa III)
2021 Kehä Festival (Oulu) / Intimacy, Part II (Läheisyys, osa II)
2021 Ääreen Event (Oodi, Helsinki) / Helsinkini (3D animation)
2021 Galleria5 – Pimento (Oulu) / The Eye of the Source
2021 Kulttuurikauppila Residency (Ii) / Piste Iin päälle
2021 M_itä Biennial (Mikkeli Art Museum) / Sound Time, Part II
2021 Retretti (Punkaharju) / Sound Time, Part I
2020 VR choir installation / From the Same Tree
2020 Akusmata Gallery (Helsinki) / Kinaesthetic Poetry
2019 Nivala Körtti Festival / Grace (Armo)
2019 Free Art Space (Helsinki) / The Other Space

Collaborations

2025 Galleria Aski (Turku) / Re-Sound (Autio & Akasaka)
2024 YÖ Galleria (Helsinki) / Meeting Point (Autio & Akasaka)
2021 Seinäjoki Art Hall / Waiting Room (Odotustila). dir. Haapoja & Gustafsson
2021 Galleria Nykyaika (Tampere) / Helmipunoja. dir. Hokkanen
2021 Mad House (Helsinki) / Sati Dérive. dir. Matruka
2021 Gallery Hippolyte (Helsinki) / Topics of Weightlessness. dir. Rantama & Holländer
2019 Zone2Source (Amsterdam) / Waiting Room (Odotustila). dir. Haapoja & Gustafsson
2018 Gjesteatelieret (Vadsø, NO) / Clown Conference. dir. Autio & Rämä
2012 Theatre Museum / Did You Hear? exhibition / Singer
2008 Design Museum (Helsinki) / Fennofolk New Nordic Oddity / Turndramatiks. dir. Masalin

Selected theatre productions (sound design)

2026 Stoa (Helsinki) / Body Notes (MimoArt Company). dir. Lindahl. Sound design: Autio
2025 Helsinki City Theatre / 12 Gifts for Santa Claus. dir. Virtanen. Sound design & music: Autio. Annual Christmas run, 2017–present
2024 Tanssin talo (Helsinki) / Body Notes – Special Edition. dir. Lindahl
2023 Café de la Dance Festival (HU) / Body Notes. dir. Lindahl
2018–2024 Helsinki City Theatre / 12 Gifts for Santa. dir. Virtanen
2021 Turku City Theatre / Gladys. dir. Maharaj
2021 Kulttuurimylly – Valon juhla (Kalasatama) / Liekki. dir. Baric
2020 Cultural Centre Caisa / 30%OFF. dir. Mäkinen
2019 Helsinki City Theatre / Angry Widow. dir. Virtanen
2019 Ahaa Theatre / Bette-D. dir. Vapaavuori
2018 Tsuumi & ensemble / Beyond Space and Time. dir. Mäkinen
2018 Hurjaruuth / Touch. dir. Rämä & Autio
2017 MimoArt Company (Stoa) / Body Notes. dir. Lindahl
2017 Kouvola City Theatre / Gravity Problem. dir. Linnapuomi
2016 Kuopio New Summer Theatre / Tapsa’s Star. dir. Sorjonen
2015 Swedish Theatre / Nicken – My Love. dir. Hasselblatt
2015 Ahaa Theatre / Wolf. dir. Virtanen
2015 Kuopio New Summer Theatre / Olavi Virta (Soloist). dir. Virtanen
2015 Kokkola City Theatre / Happy Family. dir. Moila
2015 Kokkola City Theatre / Jumpy. dir. Ojala
2014 Kokkola City Theatre / Forest Giant. dir. Aho
2014 Kokkola City Theatre / Maria’s Children. dir. Pesonen

Teaching (selected)

Uniarts Helsinki / Theatre Academy (TEAK): Fundamentals of sound design for dance artists (guest lecturer)
Uniarts Helsinki / Theatre Academy (TEAK): From designer to convener and director of works (guest lecturer)
SAMK (Kankaanpää): Media art course (2025)
Rantasalmi Upper Secondary School: Studio basics and sound dramaturgy
University of Lapland (Rovaniemi): Sound art (upcoming teaching engagement)

Written works

2013 Wholesome Sound, MA thesis, Theatre Academy (updated 2019)
2008 Space, Time, and Silence in Theatre Sound Design, BA thesis, Metropolia

Grants (selected)

2025 TAIKE, six-month working grant
2025 Oulu2026 / Arrival (group grant)
2025 Oulun Valistustalorahasto / Arrival (group working grant)
2024 TAIKE, project grant (Possible Worlds / Narva)
2023 TAIKE, Northern Ostrobothnia & Kainuu Fund
2023 TAIKE, North Karelia Fund
2023 Kimmo Kaivanto Foundation
2023 EVL Foundation for the Support of Science and Art
2022 TAIKE / Table for Two (Autio & Väyrynen)
2022 City of Turku / Table for Two (Autio & Väyrynen)
2022 TAIKE, COVID grant
2021 SKR, 3-month residency grant (NART)
2021 TAIKE, COVID grant
2020 City of Helsinki / Sati Dérive (sound walk)
2020 TAIKE, COVID grant
2020 AVEK / Intimacy (installation)
2020 SKR, COVID grant
2020 TAIKE / Sound Asleep (Moriwaki & Autio)
2019 AVEK / From the Same Tree (installation)
2019 TAIKE / Grace (installation)
2019 SKR / Grace (installation)
2018 Kyösti Kallio Foundation / Grace (installation)

Residencies

2025 AARK Residency (Korppoo)
2025 Tornio Museum Residency
2024 Haihatus Residency
2024 Old Mine Residency (Outokumpu)
2023 Tohmajärvi Artist Residency
2023 AARK Residency (Korppoo)
2022 NART Residency (Narva, EE)
2022 Old Mine Residency (Outokumpu)
2021 Hakoniemi Residency (Rääkkylä)
2021 Kulttuurikauppila Residency (Ii)
2021 AARK Residency (Korppoo)
2020 Old Mine Residency (Outokumpu)
2020 AARK Residency (Korppoo)
2018 Gjesteatelieret (Vadsø, NO)

Memberships

AV-Arkki
Gramex
Kuvasto
MUU ry
Teosto
Teme/SVÄL
YÖ ry
Nordic Artists’ Union

Contact

Rapusaarentie 2, 37800 Toijala, Finland
+358 44 069 1113
jaakkoaution@gmail.com
instagram.com/jaakkoautio/