4 – 21.6.2026

On Thursday, June 4, Oksasenkatu 11 will open The PEEK!-ing Experience, an exhibition and public programme exploring the visibility of queer and trans people in an increasingly hostile social climate. By transforming viewers into performers, the exhibition invites participants into a world of ceremonial play and drama through oversized masks and costumes. The exhibition runs until June 21.

The PEEK!-ing Experience Turns Viewers into Participants

PEEK! is a collaboration between the artist duo Status Queer (Kolbrún Inga Söring and Sam Message) and visual anthropologist and photographer Elsa Groener.

By donning oversized masks and costumes representing different LGBTQ+ archetypes, visitors transform themselves, celebrate, and connect with one another through these larger-than-life characters. At the same time, a giant, judgmental Nordic gaze remains present—ready to capture this intimate moment and broadcast it into the digital ether.

Alongside the installation, the exhibition presents a photographic series documenting PEEK!’s performance excursions, where drag characters disrupt everyday life. The exhibition is realised in collaboration with the local collective Kiss My ARS.

Performances take place every day on the hour, and on weekends every half hour after 5 PM. Participation in the performances is free of charge. Those wishing to secure a place may register in advance via the QR-code on Oksasenkatu 11’s website.

Friday 5th of June 2026
Saturday 6th of June 2026
Sunday 7th of June 2026
Tuesday 9th of June 2026
Wednesday 10th of June 2026
Thursday 11th of June 2026
Friday 12th of June 2026
Saturday 13th of June 2026
Sunday 14th of June 2026

Drag as an Art Form Allows Play with the Absurd and the Strange

Drag is not merely about playing between genders—it is a process of transformation between, above, and beyond gender itself. As a medium that challenges norms, it creates space for alternative ways of thinking and encountering one another.

Within the Nordic context of strict aesthetic norms—a world of muted tones, natural fibres, and black winter coats—being flamboyant, alternative, or simply different turns you into a magnet for attention. Hypervisibility is the feeling that everyone is watching you, and here, where staring is considered impolite, that feeling drifts into strange territory: you sense eyes on your back until you turn around, only to find gazes suddenly redirected toward the ceiling, the floor, or a phone screen.

“We don’t just want people to hear our message that the struggle for queer and trans rights is far from over—we want them to experience it. At the same time, we want to show who we are: proud, joyful, and playful. Our joy is our resistance, and this exhibition is a carnival of play—with a healthy dose of politics, resistance, and food for thought,” says artist Kolbrún Inga Söring.

PEEK! is a series of artworks and performances exploring the visibility of trans and queer people in public space. Highly visible, norm-defying individuals are accustomed to moving through public spaces under the gaze of others. In PEEK!, this experience is taken to the extreme. Status Queer’s characters Sinfluencer (Kolbrún Inga Söring) and The Meatbaby (Sam Message) invade the everyday world as bold and absurd drag personas: playing, probing, and testing its boundaries.

On one hand, PEEK! is an explosion of colour, resistance, and queer joy against the backdrop of Nordic greyness. On the other, it seeks to reveal the realities of non-normative lives to a broader audience and foster understanding of the ongoing struggles faced by LGBTQIAP+ people in the contemporary Nordic context.

The Exhibition Emerges from Sweden’s Troubling LGBTQIA+ Human Rights Situation

In 2025, ILGA ranked Sweden as the weakest of the Nordic countries in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, and according to TGEU, Sweden also performs worst in the region specifically regarding trans rights. Acceptance of LGBTQIA+ people among young people is declining: according to SVT, 15% of young people expressed negative attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people in February 2026, compared to only 3% in 2013.

Young LGBTQIA+ people experience poorer mental health and living conditions than their cisgender and heterosexual peers, with trans people facing even greater challenges (MUCF, Public Health Agency of Sweden). Sweden still does not legally recognise non-binary people, and changing one’s legal gender continues to require medical approval. Waiting times at gender identity clinics can stretch to five years from referral to diagnosis, and people under 18 can no longer access treatment for gender dysphoria, even with parental consent.

“Sweden proudly rides its moral high horse, presenting itself as a feminist utopia, but in reality its days as a pioneer of LGBTQ+ rights are long gone. Public attitudes are regressing, legal protections are lagging behind the rest of the Nordic region, and LGBTQ+ people continue to experience a significantly lower quality of life than the general population. We are here to challenge that,” says artist Sam Message.

The PEEK!-ing Experience
4–21 June 2026

Welcome to the Opening Party on Thursday 4th of June, 6–9 PM <3

The exhibition will be presented in two phases:

4–14 June: The oversized drag masks are presented as part of a participatory performance installation.
16–21 June: The exhibition continues in a new format, replacing the masks with video documentation of the performances presented in Helsinki.

Performance Registration:
https://form.everestwebdeals.co/?form=f9dbabea1a66c9c029d95d9759e8916e

Status Queer Website:
https://statusqueer.com