Program#Program

WED 25.9.

17.00 - 19.00 Virtual lecture by visual artist CASSILS (CAN/US) (Kookos, Studio 3)

19:15 WE DRAW THE LINE, Photo Exhibition opening (Kookos, lobby area)

Jonne Sippola (opens in a new tab) & Kuutti Kiperä (opens in a new tab) | We Draw the Line exhibition documents an intimate collective tattoo performance where nine queer and trans people came together for a single day to create something unique.

20:30 - 22:15 Queers for Palestine goes cinema, short films and discussion. The event is organized with Sumud - The Palestine Network (opens in a new tab). Tekstin talo (opens in a new tab), Permantosali (Lintulahdenkatu 3)

In discussion with Elias Wakeem and Hassen Hnini.
Tickets: 4–10€ (sliding scale, based on ability to pay).

Films: Homecoming Queenz (2023, Dir. Elias Wakeem); Mondial 2010 (2014, Dir. Roy Dib); Neo Nahda (2022, Dir. May Ziadé); Sultana's Reign (2023, Dir. Hadi Moussally) and Chic Point (2003, Dir. Sharif Waked).

THU 26.9.

10:00-10:25 Registration (lobby area, Tori)

10:30–11:30 CAMILLE AUER: RUFF KNOWLEDGE (Studio 3)

11:30–11:45 Break

11:45–12:30 Discussion with Camille Auer & Emil Santtu Uuttu (Studio 3)

12:30–14:00 Lunch break (Lintu 2, Lintulahdenkuja 2)

14:00–16:00 Panel discussion | Andy Cadia, Sophie Labelle, Mary Maggic on strategies for creating while trans (Studio 3)

20:00 THEY/THEM MAYHEM, Trans*Creative evening at Mascot Bar & Live Stage (opens in a new tab) (Address: Neljäs linja 2)

Performance by JAMIE MACDONALD & KUUTTI KIPERÄ.

Music by ELSI SLOAN and DJ CUTE CUMBER

Open to public - free entry!

FRI 27.9.

10:00–10:45 Talk on trans cultural production | Lotta Kähkönen & Wibke Straube (Studio 3)

11:00–12:30 RITNI RASTÉ PIESKI & AARNI PIESKI: BB - BeachBelážat | Performance and discussion (Studio 3)

12:30–13:30 Lunch Break (Lintu 2, Lintulahdenkuja 2)

13:30–15:00 MARY MAGGIC (US/AUSTRIA) Performance & discussion (Studio 3)

15:00-15:10 Break

15:10–16:10 Trans*Creative Retrospective: 4 years of following trans cultural production in Finland (Studio 3)

16:10 Coffee & Networking and Project dreaming

Image: Tani Simberg

Per­form­ing Artists and Dra­maturgs: Bi­ogra­phies#Performing Artists and Dramaturgs: Biographies

CASSILS

CASSILS (opens in a new tab)is a transgender artist who makes their own body the material and protagonist of their performances.

Cassils's art contemplates the history(s) of LGBTQI+ violence, representation, struggle and survival. For Cassils, performance is a form of social sculpture: Drawing from the idea that bodies are formed in relation to forces of power and social expectations, Cassils work investigates historical contexts to examine the present moment.

Cassils has had recent solo exhibitions at HOME Manchester, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Perth Institute for Contemporary Arts, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts,NYC; Institute for Contemporary Art, AU; Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts; School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Bemis Center, Omaha; MU Eindhoven, Netherlands.

CAMILLE AUER

Camille Auer (opens in a new tab) is such a fucking bitch. No. She's a poet. A writer. She has been an artist. She has worked with moving image and sound, performance, installation, words and concepts. She emerges when someone is being transphobic, to be a bitch. Camille Auer once abandoned her art career for three years to study birds and ornithological literature to figure out what kind of biases humans have in their knowledge of birds. Turns out, many. Then she, of course, made an artwork about it. Because when you're in the art game, you're in the art game. Fuck.

EMIL SANTTU UUTTU

Emil Santtu Uuttu’s writing and stage works deal either with deep time, incessant change and pleasures or the role of memory institutions and historical research.

AARNI PIESKI

Aarni Pieski is a writer, dramaturg and curator. He is interested in the interconnections and dynamics of people and other living entities; collective experiences and traumas; lost, hidden and preserved histories from queer and Indigenous perspectives. Currently, he is dreaming of a free Palestine.

RITNI RÁSTE PIESKI

Máret Ásllat Ivvár Ovllá Nilla Ritni Ráste, also known as Ritni Ráste Pieski, is a Sámi storyteller from the Teno River Valley, as well as a dancer, performer, choreographer, and drag artist. His artistic work focuses on decoloniality, community, radical dreaming, utopias, and humor. Pieski's recent works include the decolonial queer utopia Girjái and Indigenous Drag Excellence XXL, a collaboration with other Indigenous drag artists. Ritni Ráste was also the lead organizer of Sápmi Pride 2021 in their hometown of Utsjoki and has been actively involved in Sámi LGBTQ+ (rainbow Sámi) issues within his community.

MARY MAGGIC

Mary Maggic (opens in a new tab)is a nonbinary Chinese-American artist and researcher working at the intersection of body and gender politics, as well as capitalist ecological alienation. Based in Vienna since 2017, Maggic frequently employs biohacking as a xeno-feminist practice of care, aimed at demystifying the invisible forces of molecular biopower. After completing their Master’s at MIT Media Lab (Design Fiction), their project “Open Source Estrogen” received an Honorary Mention at the 2017 Prix Ars Electronica in the Hybrid Arts category. Maggic is a recipient of the 2022 Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, and their work has been exhibited internationally, including at Kunsthal Charlottenborg (DK), Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (ES), Philadelphia Museum of Art (US), Science Gallery London (UK), Migros Museum of Contemporary Art (CH), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (DE), Jeu de Paume (FR), Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson (US), Haus der elektronischen Künste (CH), Institute of Contemporary Arts London (UK), Art Laboratory Berlin (DE), Akbank Sanat (TR), and Jogja National Museum (ID).

Image: Benedek Bognár

Pan­elists: Bi­ogra­phies#Panelists: Biographies

ANDY CADIA

Andy Cadia is a Helsinki based performance artist and a doctoral researcher at Uniarts Helsinki. Their artistic practice, deeply rooted in feminist and queer theoretical frameworks, generates performance pieces that critically analyze representational politics, gender constructs, sexual dynamics, and the conceptualization of the non-binary paradigm. Presently, Cadia is studying in the Université Paris 8 developing the second element of their doctoral research: BINARY THE TRILOGY: QUEER PYRAMID. This trilogy comprises performances and installations aimed at deconstructing the conventional understanding of the stage as a static platform for knowledge production, instead presenting it as a dynamic space for the queer body.

SOPHIE LABELLE

Sophie Labelle is a neurodivergent trans cartoonist and novelist from Montréal, in French Canada. She is the author of the webcomic Assigned Male, which has been running since 2014, and the Ciel novel series. She likes to collect rocks and lives in Finland with her Finnish husband. ''The Best of Assigned Male'' was published by Hachette UK.

Ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty in­for­ma­tion for Theatre Academy#Accessibility information for Theatre Academy

• The Theatre Academy's main building, Kookos, is accessible.

• Please note that the floor in the lobby is uneven.

• Studio 3, where the program is held, is located at street level.

• There is an accessible toilet on the same floor as Studio 3.

• All toilets in the building are gender-neutral.

Ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty information for lunch restaurant Lintu 2#Accessibility information for lunch restaurant Lintu 2

• The restaurant is located 300 meters from the Theatre Academy.

• The restaurant is accessible.

• There is an accessible toilet available.

Trans*Creative Festival Symposium is funded by Kone Foundation and The Finnish Cultural Foundation.