Sophia Ehrnrooth
Sophia Ehrnrooth, 879 Heroes by Heart, Two-channel Video at Shimaday Gallery, Kyoto (Japan), 2018. Courtesy: The Artist
Sophia Ehrnrooth is a Helsinki-based multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker. She is a graduate of the The Art Institute of San Antonio, Texas (USA) and the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki (Finland) and has worked as a visual artist and facilitator of creative processes since 2000.
Sophia’s practice spans painting, photography, and media art, with a particular focus on moving image and installation works that explore themes of community through dialogue and dreaming, situated at the intersection of play and games.
Her artistic approach is connected to contemporary social discourse, and she participates in projects that address current societal issues through artistic means and at times, through forms of civic activism.
During Coventry Biennial 2025, Sophia Ehrnrooth will present a major four screen moving image installation with the generous support of Frame Contemporary Art Finland. 879 Heroes by Heart brings together a group of ordinary Scandinavian boys who were asked to recite the names of football players from around the globe.
This immersive work highlights the intensity of fandom and exposes the depth of obsessions that young people can develop around celebrity and sporting heroes. The work was originally made in 2016 and has been shown internationally but never in its intended four screen configuration.
Sophia’s recent exhibitions have included Salmela Arts Center (Finland) and The Finnish Cultural Institute in Madrid (Spain) and she has additionally presented her works in festivals including at the Bucharest Film Festival (Romania) and in the Cinemateca Film Center in Montevideo (Uruguay).
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Sophia Ehrnrooth’s participation in Coventry Biennial 2025 is generously supported by grants from Frame Contemporary Art Finland and Arts Council England.
This presentation of 879 Heroes by Heart has been supported by Yue Yu, a Helsinki-based Independent Curatorial Advisor to the Coventry Biennial team.
The development of 879 Heroes by Heart at Coventry Biennial 2025 has been supported by Spatial Practices in Art and Architecture for Empathetic Exchange (spacex), a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE).
