Teemu Mäki
Teemu Tuomas Mäki (born 14 October 1967 in Lapua) is a Finnish artist. A student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, in 1988 Teemu Mäki became notorious in Finland for a video-installation Sex and Death, which includes a segment in which he killed a cat and masturbated over the cat's dead body.
In 1991 Mäki was convicted of fraud and animal cruelty due to his giving an affidavit to a local animal rescue center, that he would treat the animal well and would not kill it without the rescue centre's permission. The court of appeal concluded, that the cat did not die quickly enough due to the poor quality of the axe used. The controversy was renewed in 2004, when the modern art museum Kiasma bought the video for its collection. After the second uproar in 2004 Mäki wrote an essay about the subject.
Mäki has worked in various visual media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video installation, installation as well as being a prolific writer, a successful choreographer, musician and internet-artist.
In 1997 Mäki was rewarded by the Finnish Artist Societys Palokärki award. Mäki received a Doctorate of Art from the Finnish Art Academy in 2005 and since 2008 has been Professor of Visual Art at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki.
Since 1989, Mäki's work has been exhibited worldwide. In addition to his various group shows, he has taken part in more than thirty Solo shows, has work in several public collections, has received numerous public grants and has published numerous books and articles.
Mäki sees himself as a moral relativist, atheist, vitalist and socialist. He has campaigned against criminalization of prostitution.
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