On Tuesday October 4th, Scandinavia House and Finnish Cultural Institute New York welcome you to Exercises in Togetherness, an intimate in-person program, with contributions by Helsinki-based artists Inari Sandell and Jaakko Pallasvuo, and New York-based artist Danilo Correale. With the event, Exercises in Togetherness discusses the relations between rest and labor, sleep, and artistic work in the current social climate, where societies are aiming to “return back to the normal”.

Inari Sandell’s textile installation, consisting of works from the body of work Gravity Blanket, creates a setting for the gathering. Inspired by their own neurodivergence, Sandell is interested in disturbing conventions of neuronormativity that dictate what bodily and cognitive abilities, styles of movement and degrees of productivity are considered socially acceptable. In their work these norms begin to blur and make way for alternative conceptions from a point of view of neurodiversity and queerness.

Jaakko Pallasvuo’s newly produced text-based work engages in dialogue with Sandell’s textile installation. Bringing forth the relations of work, rest and care, the piece has come to life in the aftermath of Pallasvuo’s recent trip to New York, channeling some of the city’s dynamics and priorities yet inviting the viewer to connect the dots.

Danilo Correale investigates the relations of labor and leisure, rest, sleep, and dreams of postwork societies in his practice through installation, video, and writing. For Exercises in Togetherness, Correale will realize a performative lecture on the topic of fatigue. The lecture is followed by a Q&A session with Elina Suoyrjö, the Director of Programs at FCINY.

Registration is required; please sign up here or at the link above.

About the Artists

Danilo Correale (b. 1982 in Naples, Italy) is an artist and researcher based in New York. In his work he analyzes aspects of human life, such as labor-leisure, and sleep under the lenses of time and body. His work has been presented in numerous international group exhibitions, most recently at Villa Arson (FR), Hessel Museum of Art, (USA), XXII Milano Design Triennale, BEMIS Omaha (USA) and RIBOCA – Riga Biennial. Correale is the founder of the Decelerationist Reader and a regular contributor to publications in the field of critical theory. His recent publications include They Will Say I Killed Them, NERO publications, Rome, Reverie. On The Liberation From Work, New York (2018), The Game – A three sided football match, FeC, Fabriano (2014) and No More Sleep No More, Archive Books Berlin, (2015).

Jaakko Pallasvuo (b. 1333) is an artist living and working in Helsinki. Pallasvuo’s work has been exhibited at Documenta 15, CCA Derry~Londonderry, American Medium, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and New York Film Festival, among other places. Pallasvuo’s comics for the Instagram account avocado_ibuprofen were recently collected into a book by Chicago-based publisher Perfectly Acceptable Press.

Inari Sandell (b. 1991 in Lahti, Finland) is a multi-disciplinary visual artist based in Helsinki. Their lens-based and sculptural work often takes form as installations, addressing themes of coping, rest and sensory experience entangled with post-digital and post-human millennial experience. They are about to graduate from the Time and Space Arts MFA program at Uniarts Helsinki and hold a BFA in Photography from Turku Arts Academy at University of Applied Sciences (2016) and a BA in Media Studies from University of Turku (2020). Their work has been exhibited in Finland and internationally in galleries, museums and festivals including Titanik, Photographic Centre Peri, SIC, Exhibition Laboratory Helsinki and Athens Photo Festival, among others. Their praxis also includes self-publishing and curating.

About Finnish Cultural Institute New York

The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York works across the fields of contemporary art, design, and architecture, creating dialogue between Finnish and American professionals and audiences.