Teemu Keisteri (; born 22 August 1985) is a Finnish visual artist and DJ who is known for his stage persona Windows95man. As a visual artist, he gained recognition in Finland for his paintings and

prints In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserved ...

of the fictional character (), whom he created in 2008. As a DJ, his artistic style and appearance draw inspiration from the mid-1990s, during which the

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufactu ...

operating system was released. He represented Finland in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is set to be the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is scheduled to take place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the Euro ...

with the song "

No Rules! "No Rules!" is a song by Finnish visual artist Teemu Keisteri, known professionally by his stage name persona, Windows95man. It was written and composed by Henri Piispanen, Jussi Roine, and Keisteri, and released on 16 January 2024 through Al ...

", alongside singer

Henri Piispanen Henri Piispanen (born 17th May 1994) is a Finnish voice actor, singer-songwriter and television presenter. Following his win at '' Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2024'' with Windows95man, the duo represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 ...

Early life

Keisteri was born in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

, Finland. In his childhood, he saw 1990's fashion and art, inspiring him to become a DJ. Keisteri has studied photography at the Institute of Design in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern ...

. He has said that he learned during his studies that he is more of a visual artist than a photographer. He is also known as a

video artist Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

, dance performer and DJ. Keisteri has his own art gallery called in

Kallio Kallio (; sv, Berghäll; literally " the rock") is a district and a neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, located on the eastern side of the Helsinki peninsula about one kilometre north from the city centre. It is one of the mo ...

, Helsinki.

Career

Early career

Just before he mastered Windows95man, he was a television presenter, becoming the host of a show named Summeri in 2012. He appeared in a music video by the rock band

Pariisin Kevät Pariisin Kevät (meaning Paris Spring in Finnish) is a Finnish indie-pop, indie-rock and electronic band from Helsinki, founded by Arto Tuunela in 2007. Pariisin Kevät began as a solo project and remained so for the first two studio albums. For ...

, directed as an old-school video.

Spread

Keisteri originally mastered Windows95man during the Flow Festival 2013, which caught the attention of many journalists and bloggers. He also caught the attention of electronic artist

Evian Christ Joshua Leary (born 11 June 1989), better known by the stage name Evian Christ, is an English electronic music producer, DJ, songwriter and performance artist from Ellesmere Port, UK. He is signed to Tri Angle Records, Warp and Kanye West’s pu ...

, from which who posted a picture of Keisteri over social media, making the character viral. Since then, his home videos circulated worldwide, he also got invited to multiple music festivals, even working as a DJ in

Finnair Finnair ( fi, Finnair Oyj, sv, Finnair Abp) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and internatio ...

flight. Several months later, he performed at

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

's new year festival for 2022, hosted at the

Helsinki City Hall Helsinki City Hall ( fi, Helsingin kaupungintalo, sv, Helsingfors stadshus) is a central administrative building of Helsinki, Finland. City Hall is located in the Kruununhaka district, overlooking Market Square, at address Pohjoisesplanadi 11–1 ...

. Other than his character, Keisteri possesses another character named Ukkeli, based on masculinity and greek statues. Ukkeli has since became popular and had appeared on some t-shirts.

Musical projects

In 2019, he released his first dance EP, named "Yaksa Yaksa". Three years later, he released another dance EP, named "Epic Tax Party. He also is the lead vocalist for the indie band Pasa. Another project Keisteri is part of is Peu, which is an 80's dance band which specialized in making dark pop music.

Eurovision

Keisteri participated as Windows95man with

(vocals) in the 2024 edition of , with the song "

". Despite finishing last in the jury voting, he came first overall with 313 points thanks to the televote in Finland. He was thus selected to represent his country in the

. In the Grand Final on 11 May 2024, the song received 7 points from the national juries, and a further 31 points from the general public, giving a grand total of 38 points, putting him in 19th place out of 26.

Personal life

Keisteri has a wife and a child. His estimated net worth is US$1-5 million.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Notes

References

External links

YouTube channel: Windows95man official
* Keisteri, Teemu
''History of Ukkeli''
Khaos Publishing 2016. ISBN 9789526847818. (in Finnish) * Beto Guzmán Abundes
Teemu Keisteri’s Art World
Nordic Style Magazine 30 May 2016. Archived. {{DEFAULTSORT:Keisteri, Teemu 1985 births Living people People from Espoo Finnish video artists Finnish entertainers Finnish YouTubers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Finland Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2024