There’s a beautiful quote often attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat: “Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.” As someone who works with both space and time, I find the poetic clarity of this quote deeply resonating.
When we decorate, we add beauty into the world. An empty, colorless wall transforms into a vibrant canvas, and a silent hall fills with tones and sonic textures.
However, there’s an inherent beauty hidden within the rock of our reality. Sometimes the poetry is only revealed by subtracting the formless mass that conceals it.
My artistic practice navigates between these two points — filling silences, and carving out new voids. Adding, and reducing. Breathing in, and breathing out.
I am a musician, an artist, and a specialist in spatial and temporal experiences.
Lauri Wuolio, born in 1984, is a Finnish composer and artist known for his work with acoustic and experimental electronic music. His educational background is from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, where he studied sound art, performance, and installation, at the Department of Time and Space Related Arts. His thesis involved an in-depth study of campanology (the study of bells) within the framework of contemporary sound art, culminating in his final work “In Girum Imus Nocte” (2012).
A significant part of Wuolio’s musical output is created with the cupola, or handpan, in conjunction with a variety of electronic instruments, synthesizers, and samplers. His compositions have found their way into various films, installations, and theatre and dance pieces.
Wuolio’s music shows influences from different musicians and composers such as Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Arvo Pärt, as well as electronic musicians like Tim Hecker, Boards of Canada, and Pan Sonic. As a teenager, a period of residence in Reykjavík, Iceland, exposed him to an array of experimental sounds and electronic music that have subsequently found their way into his work.
Wuolio’s first album, released in 2013, was produced under the name Kumea Sound. This project was an effort to merge his background in sound art with his experiences as a street musician. Following this, he released “Real Music for Unreal Times” in 2015, “Oceans of Sadness, Mountains of Hope” in 2017, and “Real Music for Unreal Times: Vol. 2” in 2020. The latter has accumulated nearly 5 million streams on Spotify.
In addition to his own music production, Wuolio founded Future Rust, a record label dedicated to handpan music. He is also responsible for creating Handpan Day, an event aimed at bringing together individuals interested in this unique instrument.
Wuolio currently resides in Helsinki, where he continues to produce music and art.
