Reima Hirvonen
HOMOENO, my own private pride 2025
While the North Karelia 2025 Pride was taking place, we were forced to see a video post on social media by a municipal councilor of the True Finns party and a member of parliament’s assistant, in which the councilor-assistant shoots a person belonging to a sexual and gender minority from a (Nazi German) tank. ‘’GOOD MEME’’ was the councilor’s response when asked about the post and its appropriateness (the lack thereof). The 49 people belonging to sexual and gender minority who were killed in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in the USA would hardly say “good” (if they were alive), or the 350 trans people murdered in the world over the past year (Amnesty 11/2024), etc.
We easily fall into the delusion (lie) of tolerance, even though the truth is something completely different. The tolerance that those of us belonging to the sexual and gender minorities, thought we had received, is now being strongly questioned by far-right, conservative and fascist forces around the world, and unfortunately also here in Finland. The Nazi tanks continue to roll in, conversion therapy cannot be banned, and the Lutheran Church still holds conservative attitudes towards sexual and gender minorities, etc.
Reima Hirvonen/Pyy has made works about the frustration, anger, fear, powerlessness and rage caused by (the state of) wars, genocides, racism, discrimination, injustice and environmental destruction, etc. PRIDE IS A PROTEST UNTIL EVERYONE IS FREE!
The exhibition has been supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Reima Hirvonen (Pyy) (b. 1963) is a 61 year old visual artist, homosexual, environmental and gay rights activist. Hirvonen studied at Vapaa Taidekoulu 1999–2003.
Hammaslääkärissä (detail) (2024).
Ninni Luhtasaari
What A Beautiful Collapse
Stardust is trying really hard to stay put, but pieces of it fly here, fly there. And then, for some reason, ants are on top of each other and we cannot understand what it means. We’re scared. They say being able to give birth to large heads is a superpower of a human being. These large heads are brought together and peer pressure becomes overwhelming.
Here the heads are tiny. The unruly characters are expressing themselves with their limbs rather than their faces. The stroke is raw, organic and unbalanced, just like how the world appears to be. Pink is innocent and pussy. The materials draw you in. By undressing the characters the made up division between humans and animals is being distorted.
The exhibition at Forum Box features a flame braider, a bed-wetter and a karaoke collapse. There is a devouring storm among the mouline threads, sequin and glass beads.
Ninni Luhtasaari (b. 1987) works with embroidered contemporary textile art and ceramic fountain sculptures. The Tampere-based artist has exhibited in multiple solo and group shows. Her works are in private collections around the world and in the collections of the Finnish museum of modern art Kiasma, Tampere Art Museum, Kuopio Art Museum, Oulu Art museum and Helsinki Art Museum (HAM). During the year 2023 she finished her second public art commission, a ceramic relief installation for a school building in
Kangasala/Tampere.
Currently she is working on a new public fountain sculpture for the city of Helsinki. Her long term dream is to create a contemporary art water park for the public.
Those Who Lived In The Sea
Timo Tähkänen
Foreign Species
In my exhibition Foreign Species, non-human species look for companionship through dating apps, and bodily orifices hide feelings, desires, and shame. The artistic process began from a personal experience: my queer body being seen as foreign – even harmful – much like an invasive species. According to the EU regulation, a species may be considered harmful if it threatens native biodiversity. This resonated deeply with my sense of otherness: the feeling that I am a disturbance, that my desires and hopes are at odds with the norm – even unnatural.
Desire or identity is often labelled unnatural when it doesn’t fit familiar norms. In my exhibition, queer desire and otherness are not in opposition to nature—they are part of it. I began to explore the relationship between queerness and nature. Who or what is foreign? Who has the right to spread? Are we ready to encounter the other within ourselves – and what if it has desires? Could we learn from another – perhaps from our friends in the sea?
The exhibition shifted further when my nearly 20-year-long relationship ended. I had to learn how to be single in a completely different time and rebuild my identity. My works draw from personal experiences and their unruly relationship with gay culture and history, nature, and dreaming.
Foreign Species is the third and final artistic part of my doctoral research in fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts, Uniarts Helsinki. The first part, Pink Gym, was shown at MUU Helsinki in 2023. The second part, Leak and Preach, was a drag performance presented at Club Kiihko’s Evening of New Hope at Cultural Centre Caisa in 2024.
In my research, I examine the significance of listening in the practice of a queer visual artist. I’m particularly interested in “queer-listening” – how it relates to artistic creation and critical thinking. I ask how artworks can resonate with the maker’s personal experiences and open space for listening, affect, and queer feelings.
My artistic work and research are supported by Kone Foundation.
Timo Tähkänen is a visual artist and a drag performer, as well as a second-year doctoral student (2023 onward) at the University of the Arts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts. In their artistic research, they examine how listening in a queer body influences their artistic practice. They graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2014 and as a visual artist from the South Karelia University of Applied Sciences in 2007. The exhibition at Forum Box is the third artistic component of Tähkänen’s doctoral dissertation.
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