25.4.-19.5.2024

I want to desexualize my body. I want a mane reaching down to my ass. A continuous shiny flow waving in the air. (Eating hair leaves a toxic taste in my mouth.) I want to face you even though I want to be left alone. I want my body to be flexible enough to do a split and I want to be able to ignore such nonsense. I want Tamara Aladin’s candleholder and a week without migraine.

(… my desire changes with the algorithm.)

My desire is passed on to you.

Social philosopher Rahel Jaeggi writes that even though social roles can help you find and form yourself, you may also get lost in them. The days of a body stuck in a role go around in a loop somewhere in the distance, and it may not recognize its desires and the objects of desire. According to social psychologist Devon Price, in a neuronormative environment, a neurodivergent body has to diminish its needs and desires. Constantly ignoring one’s own body in the absurd and hyperaccelerating time is alienating. The experience of alienation can be described as a process through which one loses touch with itself and one’s body and which ultimately disconnects the body from the environment.

Alien Desire explores the experience of alienation in the desire-filled era and also desires in an alienated body. How desires are clingy, numbing and sticky and how they are exciting, stimulating, inviting and polishing. A desire coming from various normative environments can drive an individual further away from oneself. On the other hand, a curious desire can act as a driving force for change towards finding oneself and one’s community.

Sini Henttu’s works make use of video, installation and performance art. She is interested in bringing the body and other materials together and examining bodily experiences with the help of objects. She is fascinated by how different materials, such as a piece of furniture, sound or video, affect the way in which the body is in a space, how it feels and acts. As a neurodivergent artist, she is driven by a desire to learn to listen and follow the needs and impulses of her body. Henttu’s works have been on display at several group and solo exhibitions, and she has also worked together with a group as a video and performing artist.

Film sound designer Pääsky Piikkilä, together with Henttu, was in charge of sound recording and design for the video works. Sofia Haapamäki deserves a big thank-you for helping with coding.