Biography

Jani Luoma (b. 1997) is an artist based in Helsinki, Finland and is set to graduate with a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2025, with Time and Space as his study area. His works often take the form of video installations, texts, and performances.

Based on his own diary notes and intimate conversations, Luoma creates materials such as videos, audio recordings, and texts, for his works. He usually makes notes and audio recordings on his phone and films with a MiniDV camera. These low-threshold tools allow for spontaneous documentation, making the materiality of everyday life an evident part of his work. In addition to digital image-making techniques, Luoma deepens the material presence of his works by filming on 16 mm film. By reassembling audiovisual fragments, he creates works that shatter and challenge structures of power related to class and sexuality.

Alongside his individual artistic practice, Luoma collaborates on performances with his colleague Veera Wahlroos. They are currently preparing their third joint performance, Touch, which will be presented in early June at Taidekoti Kirpilä and produced in collaboration with HAM. The performance explores intimacy in non-romantic friendships through the sense of touch. A central aspect of the work is consent, which they maintain by verbalizing their boundaries through both language and gesture.

Luoma has exhibited his work in Finland and Sweden, including at Ateneum Art Museum, Galleria Rajatila, Asbestos Art Space, Kuva/Tila, Vapaan Taiteen Tila, Vita Havet at Konstfack, and Utomhusgalleriet på Sergels torg. He has also presented performances and screenings in public spaces and community events, such as screenings at Kino Club in Helsinki and at the New Cinema Zvezda movie theater in Belgrade. Luoma is a member of the Performance Artists Unite! collective, which produces performance art events in Helsinki. He is also part of an international group of artists, Alien Art Group, that organizes group exhibitions in the Nordic countries. The group consists of artists from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Finland, and Iceland, and is coordinated by Nathalie Seifert-Eliassen from Oslo. The group's first exhibitions will take place in Finland and Norway in 2025.

Luoma’s artistic work has been supported by Föreningen Konstsamfundet, Svenska kulturfonden, Finnish-Swedish Cultural Foundation, Eugène, Elisabeth och Birgit Nygréns stiftelse, Greta och Alfred Runebergs Stiftelse, and the University of the Arts Helsinki Foundation.