Timo Tähkänen

Pink Gym
- art exhibition

MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre, Finland

2.12. -17.12.2023

The Pink Gym exhibition is based on the questions: What kind of bodies are welcome in the gyms? Is it okay to be loved and accepted as you are in the gym? What is the ideal body and what are the means to achieve it? Could training be thought of as care?

The exhibition is the first artistic part of my research. The exhibition was at the beginning of my research and, in addition to the questions presented earlier, it clarified my relationship with artistic research and my research plan and related concepts.

The exhibition consists of images based on my performances for the camera, which together with the other objects form a yoga-like installation. The exhibition also includes the performance presented at the opening and an artist's meeting to discuss the themes of the exhibition.

The Pink Gym exhibition project began during meetings of me and my personal trainer at the gym in 2023. Themes of the exhibition began to expand as I interpreted my experiences at the gym and discussed them with other queer people.

I poses in front of the camera to explore my experiences. The moment of description is research, and it also generates material for analysis afterwards. The exhibition functions as a space for sharing experiences, where the aesthetic and ethical information provided by the installation is left for the visitor to evaluate and interpret through their own experiences. 

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Press release fin / eng

Social media campaign before the exhibition.

Video tour to my exhibition:

This video was projected on the floor at the entrance to the gallery.

The digital images based on my performances for the camera were printed on the banner canvas for this exhibition.

"Dear personal trainer

I wrote you a letter because it feels important to thank you one more time. I thank you not only for the coaching, but for your care.

You said you were aiming for wider shoulders. I designed a backwiderlizer for you as a thank you."

Recorded audio, written speech and pictures of my performative speech at the opening. The greetings in the speech are direct quotes from what I heard at the gym.

The exhibition was an active space where I discussed the themes of my exhibition with the audience. The children used the space for their own games and broke the etiquette of visiting the exhibition. Pictures from the events of the exhibition:

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