Laura Beloff (b.1964, Harjavalta, Finland)
Artist, researcher. Graduated with an MFA in 1995 from the University of Art and Design (Helsinki) and a second MFA in 1998 from the California Institute of the Arts. Her work focuses on net installations and portable computing, researching the private and the public in modern technological space. Beloff has participated in over 10 solo exhibitions in museums and galleries such as the Turku Art Museum (Turku, 1995), Ars Electronica Center (Linz, 2000), Passage Gallery (Vienna, 2001) and Kunstnerenshus (Oslo, 2004). Her works have been shown in group exhibitions at the National Museum of Finland (Helsinki), California Institute of the Arts (California), the Kiasma Museum (Helsinki), UCLA Gallery (Los Angeles), KuenstlerHaus (Vienna), the Russian Museum (Saint-Petersburg), the Contemporary Art Museum (Oslo) and at media art festivals, such as Ars Electronica (Linz, 1999, 2004), Microwave (Hong Kong, 2000), FILE (Sao Paulo, 2000), CYNET (Dresden, 2001), Sonar (Barcelona, 2002), Electrohype (Malino, 2002), ISEA (Tallinn, 2004), IFCA (Maribor, 2005), Wearable Futures (Newport, 2005), Article Biennale (Stavanger, 2006) and Mobile Journey (the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007). In 1999-2000, she was a visiting professor at the Art University in Linz (Austria). She received a Fulbright grant and other prizes, including honorary mention at the international competition on ALife VIDA 5.0 (Madrid) and the grant of Ministry of Culture of Finland (1994). From 2002-2006, Beloff was a full professor at Oslo Academy of Arts (Norway). She is awarded a 5-year grant by the Finnish state (2007-2011). Currently she is working towards PhD within The Planetary Collegium, The Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Interactive Arts (University of Plymouth, UK).