Her works, grounded in complex code-based systems, weave together forensically collected information and data derived from site investigations. She produces drawings, music composition, text, performance, video, and textile-based works drawn from the engineering, structures and lexical prompts associated with the diverse architectural settings. More recently, her work has extended to the morphology of cellular life, undertaken within the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Mathematical Analysis of Cellular Systems (MACSYS).
Salsjö’s works have been included in major international exhibitions including Construction of the Possible, the 13th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba (2019) and A Score For the Len Lye Centre, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Aotearoa New Zealand (2025). The latter acquisitive commission included 1,000 works on paper and a live recording of Salsjö’s composition performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hamish McKeich and produced at Peter Jackson’s Stella Maris recording studio.
Other recent commissions include 26 Halifax Street: Coded Movements for Billilla (2024-25), focusing on the heritage-listed Billilla Mansion, Brighton, while The Bridge: A Score for Sydney Harbour Bridge, (2023) was commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, with performances at the MCA and Sydney Opera House with musicians from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, The Quietude was performed at Phoenix Central Park, Sydney. In 2022, the National Gallery of Victoria, and Fed Square Melbourne commissioned A Score for Fed Square (2022). The work marked the 20th anniversary of Fed Square with a performance on the main stage by musicians from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Antonioli. Other works include 1000 Year Plan for Gertrude Glasshouse, Gertrude Glasshouse, Melbourne (2022); Modes and Forms (performance), La Trobe Regional Gallery, Morwell, Victoria (2020); The Score, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Melbourne (2017); Mia Salsjö: Prints, Drawings, Multiples, was shown at the Australasian Cultural Art Exchange Gallery, Melbourne (2019).
In 2021, she was awarded a City of Melbourne Grant to compose The Quietude based on the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria (2021), performed live at Bunjil Place, Narre Warren, Victoria. Salsjö holds a Master of Fine Art (First Class) and a Bachelor of Music Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, and is currently a resident artist at Hayden’s, Melbourne.