State of the Art Network 2020–2023

Imaging Godzilla / Andy Best and Merja Puustinen

Andy Best and Merja Puustinen are artists with international careers encompassing sculpture, performance, media, net, and bio-art. Merja Puustinen is an artist, cultural commentator, producer and researcher. She is a PhD candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts, Helsinki. Andy Best is an experienced curator, producer and educator, and is Professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts, Helsinki, and a PhD candidate in the Department of Media at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture.

Andy and Merja were amongst the World’s first online artists, and during the 1990’s created beautiful, provocative multiuser 3D worlds on the internet. They developed a web-based 3D multiuser community platform as well as virtual pet and e-learning applications for mobile phones. Now they focus on developing playful, physically engaging installations and public art works. They have founded Espoo Kunsthalle, an initiative to bring critically engaged art to suburban areas, and the Imagining Godzilla artistic residency network platform, using artistic methods to investigate the environmental challenges facing the Baltic Sea.

Website : andyandmerja.com
Imagining Godzilla : imagininggodzilla.fi