Erkka Nissinen (b. 1975, Jyväskylä, Finland) lives and works between Helsinki and Hong Kong. He studied art at schools in London and Helsinki. In 2007, he was artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. His work consists of videos, performances and comics. He won the Illy Prize in Rotterdam in 2011 and the AVEK Prize for media art in 2013.
Nissinen’s works are concerned with looping logic, bootless searches for meaning and the absurdist humour to which these things give rise. Though absurd to the point of nonsense and often obscene, Nissinen’s work is far from being meaningless. Rather, it discloses a critical take on the difficulties of social interaction, on philosophy, and on the language of media -such as children’s television, educational programs, or porn, often all mashed up into one. Nissinen does so by means of video, drawing, computer-controlled lights, robotics, performance, and sound.
Erkka Nissinen, alongisde Nathaniel Mellors, represented Finland at the Venice Biennial in 2017.
His work has been included in international public and private collections such as Kiasma, Helsinki Art Museum HAM, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Gouda, and Museum De Hallen, among others.