Jenna Sutela: Aeolian Suite

Marking the 70th anniversary of the Pavilion of Finland, commissioner Frame Contemporary Art Finland will present Aeolian Suite by artist Jenna Sutela at the 61st International Venice Biennale, on view from May 9 to November 22, 2026.

Curated by Stefanie Hessler, Aeolian Suite unfolds as a multisensory environment, transforming the pavilion into a windscape of sound and movement. The artwork is composed using meteorological data, musical instruments (such as a clothesline, wind machines, and a children’s woodwinds orchestra), and the winds from Venice, Helsinki, and beyond.

Aeolian Suite explores the ambivalence of the wind—an atmospheric presence that is intangible and unpredictable. Wind transcends earthbound logic while simultaneously being entangled in our lives and a mirror to our planetary impact. It acts as a source of true randomness for computation, divination, and music, and as a carrier of particles, microbes, seeds, and messages.

In this elemental drama set in the Pavilion of Finland, the five Venetian winds—Tramontana, two different Boras, Scirocco, and Garbin—become central protagonists, singing the weather while acting as guides for listening. The characters, styled with hair artist Sara Mathiasson, take on identities inspired by the shifting weather patterns. By personifying the atmospheric forces that shape Venice and the increasingly volatile global climate, the work addresses environmental questions from the mundane to the existential.

The scenography, designed by Celeste Burlina, is set in the spirit of Commedia dell’arte traveling theatre and reflects the history of Alvar and Elissa Aalto’s pavilion from 1956, which was originally intended as a mobile construction. Likewise, the vocal characterization is inspired by grammelot, the art of speaking without words from the same theater tradition, communicating instead through rhythm, tone, and gesture.

Aeolian Suite studies predictive processes, like environmental simulations and weather forecasting, in discussion with scientists at the Institute of Marine Sciences CNR-ISMAR. Simultaneously, it explores mystical and sensorial ways of knowing, like the practice of deep listening. While acknowledging that it is impossible to model a system from within without changing it, the work aims to take a different approach by tuning into the environment.

“Against the logic of noise cancellation and weather prediction, Aeolian Suite embraces the wind's unpredictability and its fully relational being,“ said Jenna Sutela. “We can only hear wind as it blows into, out of, or against things like trees, alleys, flutes, wings, or the Merihaansilta bridge in Helsinki. To listen to the wind—to let it take over the microphone, the voice, the recording—is a way of staying porous to the world, of recognizing that intelligence moves in more directions than we can see.“

Curator Stefanie Hessler added, “The pavilion whisks us into an expanded conversation with the atmosphere—one that moves between scientific measurement and poetic intuition, between control and surrender. Sutela sensitizes us to forces that exceed human scale while simultaneously summoning us to sound the whispers and roars of the winds with our full sensorium, wit, and languages beyond those known to us as of yet.”

The exhibition at Finland’s Aalto Pavilion is commissioned and produced by Frame Contemporary Art Finland. Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture is the main partner of the exhibition. The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture is the main supporter of the exhibition. Other supporters include Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Genelec, Kvadrat, Schering Stiftung, Saastamoinen Foundation, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finnish Embassy in Rome, and Pavilion of Finland Patrons. Event partners include Finnland-Institut in Berlin, TBA21–Academy's Ocean Space, and Swiss Institute (SI) New York.

The presentation coincides with the Pavilion of Finland’s 70th anniversary year in 2026. It will be accompanied by a publication and record produced in collaboration with Mousse Publishing and PAN record label.

Events
There will be an event at the Finnland-Institut in Berlin on January 30th. To RSVP, please contact julia@suttoncomms.com.

Press inquiries
International press: Julia Debski, Sutton Communications, julia@suttoncomms.com
Finnish press: Rosa Kuosmanen, Head of Communications at Frame, rosa.kuosmanen@frame-finland.fi

Press kit
For more information, please visit the press kit.