Jaana Kokko is an artist, filmmaker, teacher and an occasional curator based in Helsinki, with a background in arts but also in economics. In her practice she now searches for the common: the emergent need for the change that is starting from our practices of art making, learning and being together.
She is interested in the languages and places/spaces of individuals in which the singularity of experience opens onto the collective and its historicity in ways that allow reflection on the political and aesthetic dimensions, not only of self-representation but also of life itself as shared. Jaana has recently finished with two films located in the peripheries by trying to shift the gaze from the centre to the outskirts of sight and sound.
Visit Jaana’s website here
Summer 2026
Film & Video / Visual Arts / Print Making
Research Focus
Jaana has an interest to look at the feminist histories of the discourses of peace, not only in Finland as a European border country, but also in other lands and meadows. What are the ways of dialogues for negotiating peace in parallel to the official ones? In the residency Jaana would be working with a one historical case of feminist geopolitics and is making a script and a screen play for a new docu-fictional work of moving image.
More about the Dwell Here Residency
Dwell Here offers participants a simple proposition: to commit to this time and place while thinking deeply about its urgencies. Together we are curious to learn what can be activated or challenged through the process of dwelling. IMMA encourages reflection across the following themes to consider geographical, historical, political and cultural concepts of Ireland as a starting point to expand and connect international contexts through similarities and differences:
Technologies of Peace – to consider commemorative landscapes and memories of peace (as a dream, movement, or value) while generating perspectives on sustainable coexistence.
The Irish Paradigm – Welcomes artistic research that creates intimacy and connections, while celebrating the perceived agility and freedoms of operating on the periphery. As a small island on the edge of Europe, Ireland often has a challenging relationship with ‘the centre’.
The Museum as a Site of Vibration – consider how the museum and site can create new vibrations and rhythms within the built legacy of empire. How can museums make visible cultural shifts, including erased, censored or marginalised histories, as well as sustainability, planetary care, sharing and hospitality.