7.—29.11.2026

Opening on Friday 6.11. 18—20, welcome!

In Oksasenkatu 11 gallery one can experience choreographer-fine artist Lin Da’s third part of their Openings of the body -project: Porous gate. The themes of their latest exhibitions have been belly button and mouth; this time they are guiding the awareness of the audience to the other end of the digestive system. The exhibition consists of sensuous, tender and powerful sculptures. As part of the exhibition, one can also see a performance, Ars of Intimacy, which explores anal corporeality.

November’s exhibition challenges imagination and expanses the field of images related to the anus through multidisciplinary art. It is an overview of a theme, also felt as a tabu, by which pleasure and shame, as well as carnality and fragility, intersect. The exhibition and the performance invite the audience to ponder about the various manifestations of intimacy; through fine arts, dance and corporeality.

In Openings of the body -series of works, Da views through bodily openings queer humanity and animal being and its obscure areas, as well as deep needs and desires. Since 2022 they have worked with the themes of mouth and navel, independently and with working groups. Over the years, being with these bodily concepts has evolved into works that in 2023 examined the deep connection between bodies through the navel, and in 2024 invited one to see the body as a landscape and spatial being through the mouth. Da’s latest solo exhibition Connections and combinations highlighted the sense of interdependence through the theme of navel at the HAA Gallery in Suomenlinna 3.12.2025-3.1.2026. In addition to these, several Da’s queer-navel sculptures were exhibited at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art from 14.11.2024 until 13.9.2026 as part of Dialogues-exhibition (Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection exhibition).

Lin Martikainen with artistic name Lin Da (they/them) is a queer-artist who works in the intersections of dance, fine art and performance. They graduated as a dancer from the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, a Master in Dance from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki and as a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki.

www.linmartikainen.com/

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Oksasenkatu 11 and the Festival of Unfinished Art / Live Art Society. The performance has received support from the City of Helsinki.

Lin Da’s and working group’s Ars of Intimacy -group performance on Fri 20.11., Fri 27.11. and Sat 28.11. at 19. Note that the spots are limited! Book your spot well in advance for the performance through this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyDnj2T6elBxLbL4llUNGUu3rzcccoOaVI43ktnl9UosMxEQ/viewform?usp=header

Accessibility:

The space is unfortunately unaccessible for wheelchairs. There is a 3 cm high doorstep and rampless staircase of four steps when entering the space. The width of the door is 85 cm. When entering downstairs you have to go down steep stairs to get to the ground floor space. There is no elevator to the cellar. There is a small toilet in the space. Please contact us if you have anything to ask!