13–28 May
Visiting hours: Thu–Fri 14–18, Sat–Sun 13–18
Opening: Thursday, May 12th 18–21
Romance as a literary genre is geared traditionally towards female and increasingly towards queer audiences’ fantasies of escape and desire. The canon, however, continues to revolve around tropes that recreate and reinforce the racist, patriarchal, and capitalist hegemony from which it purports to provide an escape.
Why are even our fantasies confined by hegemonic thinking? Can we imagine iterations of escape and pleasure that exist beyond the limits of our social structures, and in so doing, subvert them?
Love or Hegemony? is a visual art exhibition working with camp aesthetics and the cringe factor of romance novels. The project aims to critically examine the ways in which we engage with pop cultural mediums that fail to represent us in any meaningful way, yet continue to provide pleasure.
Saara Mahbouba (San Jose, CA) is a visual artist, writer, and artistic researcher currently based in Helsinki. Her research interests are primarily in the intersection of identity and labor and her projects typically engage with a mix of critical theory and pop culture. https://saaramahbouba.com/
This project is supported by The Arts Promotion Center Finland (Taike)
↓ Images courtesy of Ulla Kokki ↓
