HOME is part of Vera Boitcova’s ongoing doctoral artistic research that explores the notions of home and belonging within queer migrant dramaturgies. Expanding this inquiry, Boitcova brought together four queer migrant artists currently based in Helsinki to reflect on themes of displacement, absence/presence, and the complex meanings of belonging.
The project consisted of four workshops designed by Boitcova to methodologically experiment with the languages of queer migrant dramaturgy. These workshops aimed to create a space for collaborative experimentation and exploration, where participants could test how personal practices and lived experiences might be translated into performative forms. The sessions also facilitated the discussion of artistic methods and ideas related to home and belonging among fellow queer migrant artists in Finland. The participating artists were selected through an open call posted by Boitcova in March 2025, with selection criteria emphasizing the specific focus of the project (exclusively for queer migrant artists) as well as the artistic merit of the applicants.
The outcome of the workshop series was the creation of five individual, site-specific, performance-based works presented on Suomenlinna Island in and around HIAP Gallery in June 2025. Each piece responded not only to the physical and symbolic context of the island but also acted as a form of cultural translation, transforming personal and collective experiences of displacement, identity, and belonging into performative language. The second outcome was participation in a group exhibition at the same gallery titled Unfolding Island Ecologies, which featured video documentation from the creative processes behind each artist’s work.
This exposition presents materials created and collected during the workshops leading up to creation of the performances. It documents the ongoing effort to develop a performative language capable of expressing queer migrant narratives centered around the concept of home. It attempts to capture dramaturgical methodologies-in-progress and the process of translation of personal artistic practices into shared experiences. The exposition is structured into five sections: brainstorming exercises, workshop designs, artistic tasks, writing prompts, and reflective texts. Each section was designed to highlight different methodological aspects of the process and to offer multiple perspectives on this exploration.
ARTISTS
Project author/workshop leader/performer
Vera Boitcova (she/her) is a theatre director, dramaturge, artistic researcher, curator, and queer performance artist based in Helsinki. Currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of the Arts Helsinki, her research explores themes of otherness, belonging, and queer migrant narratives in performance dramaturgy. Boitcova holds MAs in Comparative Dramaturgy (Uniarts/Goethe University) and Theatre and Performance (Queen Mary, London). Her work spans immersive, multimedia, and site-specific formats, presented across Europe and beyond. A committed activist, she has curated Eve’s Ribs and QueerFest in Russia. She is a DAAD Prize recipient and has been recognized for her plays at the Lubimovka Festival.
Performers/workshop participants
George Rallis (they/them) is a performance artist and cultural practitioner with a background in Cultural Analysis (RMA, University of Amsterdam), specializing in metaphysics, ontology, and their application to queer politics and visual culture. Their interdisciplinary work spans video, spatial interventions, ephemeral sculpture, and community-centered performance. Passionate about theory-driven cultural production, George focuses on alternative knowledge systems, queer transdisciplinarity, and political outreach. They hold a BA in English Studies from the University of Cyprus (with honors) and have received awards for both academic and artistic contributions, including the 2021 Artistic Presentation prize at the Dissidence and Gender Conference.
Gabriella (Gaby) Presnal (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, video, sculpture, installation, 360 video, AR, and applied fine arts. Their practice explores themes of identity, spatiality, and cultural belonging, often rooted in personal experiences of living in the US, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. Presnal's work has been exhibited widely in Finland and internationally, including solo shows at Galleria Ars Liberia and Yö Gallery, and group exhibitions in Korea, Australia, Brazil, and the USA. They hold a BA in Media & Art from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and are currently pursuing a Nordic Master in Visual Studies and Art Education.
Leik Silvestrini (they/them) is a performance artist who has studied and worked across Norway and Finland over the past nine years. They hold a BFA in Contemporary Art from the Fine Arts Academy of Bergen and are completing an MFA in Time and Space Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki. Their work explores presence, ritual, and public space, with performances shown in Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Silvestrini has participated in residencies across both countries and created a permanent public artwork for a Norwegian nursery home. They are also a co-founder of Waaktaar forlag and an active member of Performance Art Bergen.
niko wearden (he/they) is a British performance artist who lives in Helsinki now. At the moment, they have a practice of mostly refusing to talk about their practice. niko tends to their body in water, lying on the floor, ecological grief and waiting with his transcrip kin. He doesn’t want to wait alone anymore. niko studied BA Fine Art: Time Based Media at University of the Arts, London. Since graduating, they have shown collaborative and solo work internationally, including at The Royal Academy, London, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, New Performance Turku, and ØY Festival, Orkney.
