Gentle Gestures — Non-binary Conceptions of Difference
12.1.–7.2.2021
Nadiye Koçak
Maija Baijukya
Eero Yrjölä
Teo Ala-Ruona & Tuukka Haapakorpi
Minkki Nurmi
Flis Holland
Curated by Camille Auer
What does a non-binary conception of difference mean? Camille Auer, who acts as the curator of the group exhibition Gentle Gestures, posed this question to seven artists and asked them to respond with a gesture that could be, or not be, an artwork. The responses that form the exhibition are sculptures, installations, a painting, a sound piece, texts and a performance.
There are a lot of binaries in the worldview of European culture. Things have been divided into two mutually exclusive categories: soul and flesh, nature and culture, human and animal, man and woman, intellect and emotion, us and them. In closer inspection this divide dissolves and nothing in the world abides by it. According to feminist theorist and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha: “a non-binary conception of difference is not opposed to sameness, nor synonymous with separateness.”
VIRTUAL TOUR BY FLIS HOLLAND
Flis Holland has a fractious relationship with meteorites, and in the past they’ve been accused of putting themself in harm’s way. Now they’re fixated on Asteroid Tracker AR, an app that brings 3D models of near-Earth asteroids into users’ day-to-day lives. Holland will use the app to give a virtual tour of Gentle Gestures, manoeuvring around the groups’ works and public expectations of safety and accessibility.
The tour will be on Instagram on 13.Feb at 15:00, and the video will stay online until the end of the month. Go to www.instagram.com/tv/CLO7hkPIpsm/.
Nadiye Koçak is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in the fields of contemporary jewellery and sculpture. They are currently fascinated by semiotics, and even more so by the body and its meanings. They want to explore ways in which the body, or something signifying the body, can be used to further signify other things and how the relationships between the signifier and signified can be toyed with in art.
Maija Baijukya is a self-taught artist working with various mediums: paint, poetry, and textiles as well as recycled materials. As an urban animist, their process is intuitive. Baijukya’s pieces are stories they felt compelled to share, moments and feelings wanting form, questions seeking answers in the material realm.
Eero Yrjölä is a nonbinary artist working in Helsinki. The themes of gender, sexuality and growth get entwined with questions about power and the body. They work across disciplines, especially with installation and contemporary sculpture. Yrjölä’s work is supported by the Paulo Foundation.
Teo Ala-Ruona is a performance and visual artist and educator. They work with speculative fiction in the forms of performance, text, sound, video, and workshops. They explore topics of sex, queer-ecology, environmental toxicities, and gender through re-defining language and stories about desire, pleasure, and intimacy on a toxic Earth.
Tuukka Haapakorpi is a multi-disciplinary artist, musician, and sound designer. Among other things they have worked with sculpture, media, and sound art and games. Haapakorpi has done tours in Europe playing experimental, electronic, and contemporary music festivals and events.
Flis Holland has a fractious relationship with meteorites, and in the past they’ve been accused of putting themself in harm’s way. Now they’re fixated on Asteroid Tracker AR, an app that brings 3D models of near-Earth asteroids into users’ day-to-day lives. Flis will use the app to give a virtual tour of Gentle Gestures, manoeuvring around the groups’ works and public expectations of safety and accessibility.
Minkki Nurmi is a nonbinary and neuro-divergent visual artist and gardener. They work with personal emotions, experiences, and situations, which get documented in their work. Nurmi mainly works with drawing and text, but occasionally also uses photography and installation.
