Klosetti

M: I am thinking of you as I find myself back at the swamp, moist, overgrown. Neighboured with close-by scrap cars, metal materials and a sea of mechanics. Stones all around, heavy with their history. It’s a place to work, to grind granite in the open air. I am often here alone. There is a gap in the fence and a fear of what’s beneath the surface, so I try to stay focused. Comfort comes from the wild plants – I have grown together with them. I look for protection from the longer blades when I really need to pee. … – Where are you Jade? J: I’m out of reach. Inside my thoughts, I repeat to myself how good it is for one to think about toilets so much. What is enough? We all need them. Most of us move between them as if by nature, choosing the toilets that are labelled to match one’s own gender. That’s how you know when it’s okay to enter. I also know when dissociation takes over my body, turning the environment into a flat two-dimensional matrix. At the bottom of the metal can is me, and at the other end is the world whose voices echo off the walls, generating a landscape of disorientating frequencies…. – But then what is next for you? M: Next…hmmm, next I don’t know. The trees are broken, forming a kind of boundary, an uneven shadow wobbling in the heat of noon. The granite becomes cumbersome, tiring to carry myself. But it’s important to keep it close as it teaches me a lot. I want to keep going, all the time, but I need to learn to rest. The sun creates beams of light, beautifully glistening those metal scraps, perhaps it’s prettier from a distance. I will wait for the sap to rise from the cracks of these broken branches. This will create a new corridor where the ground is more equal and hopefully lighter. Then I will look for my friend. Maybe they are also here in this swamp. We could rest and carry together. And for you what next? J: As I write this I’m on a trip into the wild, navigating through the holes and pipes that tie stuff together like a spider’s web. No one knows if this spider is poisonous or not. Despite the poisons or spiders, I don’t care what my body looks like. I care how it feels. The world is always a mess. You can’t do anything about it. Well, maybe… A little more appreciation and kindness wouldn’t hurt:-b Klosetti is a collaborative exhibition by Maija Fox and Jade Kallio, inspired by the history of Titanik as a public toilet. The Finnish term “Klosetti” is short for “water closet.” The word “closet” is derived from the Latin term “clausum,” meaning “closed space,” “enclosure,” or “isolation.” In this exhibition the intimate structures of toilets are being examined as a shared starting point, enabling a range of individual emotions, including fear, frustration, hope, desire, love, and feelings of solidarity to be shared. The works reflect on visible and invisible architectures, from the toilet cubicles to the broader impacts of public and private, urban and rural, spaces on our bodily autonomy, equality, and gender identities. These emotions are mediated through the artists’ personal perspectives through video, installation and sculpture. Maija Fox is an artist based in Helsinki. Maija’s primary medium is metal fabrication and casting processes.The sculptures she creates offer sensitive reflections, combining personal elements from both rural and industrial contexts; illustrating the interrelationship between natural and human-made mechanisms. Her work draws attention to intersections between feminist and environmental perspectives. She draws attention to methods such as the dispersal of seeds, the function and history of utilitarian objects, as well as access and equality in processes and environments. Fox’s work has been supported by Svenska kulturfonden and Hélène och Walter Grönqvists Stiftelse. Jade Kallio is an artist based in Helsinki. Their diverse work ranges from experimental filmmaking to performance and installation. Combining documentary work with speculative fiction, they explore personal themes that challenge and create a new way of looking at societal norms and expectations. Kallio is interested in the ways in which bodies, particularly queer, trans people are interpreted and ruled to the point of absurdity in a controlled society. Koneen Foundation and AVEK have supported Kallio’s work