I had the most beautiful month in August as the artist in residence of Titanik Gallery in Turku. Having spent holidays every year of my childhood in Finland, it was a very special experience to return this time to work on my artistic practice. I loved the long walks in nature, the creatures I met on my walks, the delicious swims I had, and the texts I read after the swims.
Dear Satu Herrala and Anastasia (A) Alevtin invited me together with Fran Trento to co-facilitate a session of Gestures of Reading, where we engaged with selected texts. We read them alongside watery bags, textures and fabrics, tiny beads and notes. The weeks afterwards I worked on a broadcast for OOO Radio. For this broadcast, which I called ’Textures Gestures,’ I combined sounds recorded during the Gestures of Reading event with texts I wrote during my residency. Through ’Textures Gestures’ I wondered what the material and embodied conditions are for pluriform ways of reading.
Next to that I worked on the first chapter of my PhD that also thinks through the material conditions for linguistic practices. Moreover, I had the lovely chance to meet Sara Blosseville as their work was on display at Titanik. The opening was a nice evening where I met a lot of interesting people part of Titanik’s larger artistic community.
I would like to thank my friends (A), Fran, and Iiris that welcomed me and took me on many beautiful adventures. My thank you also goes to the wonderful team of Titanik that hosted me with such care and made this residency possible: thank you Saskia, Ruby, Lotta and Anne!
The residency was supported by INTERACT: Intersectional Reading, Social Justice and Literary Activism (Kone Foundation)
