TRIP FEED - JENNA SUTELA

TRIP FEED - JENNA SUTELA, 04.10–04.11.2023,

PRIMER, COPENHAGEN

Water is strange. Only by force can it stand still. Life is water in motion. 

Trip Feed explores water as a transport medium that lets nutrients and microorganisms, among other things, travel within and without us. We, along with other terrestrial mammals, are hosts to Hypersea, a sea on land (after Dianna and Mark McMenamin). The exhibition considers body fluids on a planetary scale, weaving together the lemniscate streams inside and outside the body, while zooming in on the psychobiotic properties of human milk. 

In addition to works by Jenna Sutela, the exhibition presents a selection of artifacts from Virbela Ateljé in Ytterjärna, Sweden. Their design mimics and amplifies the supposedly inherent rhythmic flow patterns in water.  

Trip Feed is one of several outcomes of a four year long collaboration between Jenna Sutela and Primer. Instead of a traditional commission, they have collectively researched, built relations, tested modes of production, and curated. This process has been joined by other artists, engineers, humanities researchers and scientists along the way. The Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark has been supporting the collaboration since 2019 (you can read more about the start of the collaboration here). 

The exhibition is supported by Finlands Kulturinstitut i Danmark, Bikubenfonden, Nordisk Kulturfond, Beckett Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Statens Kunstfond, and Schering Stiftung.

Jenna Sutela is a Finnish artist based in Berlin. She works with biological and computational systems, including the human microbiome and artificial neural networks to create sculptures, images and music. Sutela's work has been presented at museums and art contexts internationally, including Haus der Kunst, Munich (2022); Castello di Rivoli (2022); Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2022); Shanghai Biennale (2021); Liverpool Biennial (2021); Kunsthall Trondheim (2020); Serpentine Galleries, London (2019); and Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2019). She was a Visiting Artist at The MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) in 2019-21.

Primer is a platform for artistic and organizational development. Primer is located in the headquarters of Aquaporin, a global water technology company. This exhibition is the last planned project at Aquaporin, after which Primer in its current form will go on a hiatus.