A sharing, a demo, a discussion, an outcome – Phan Nguyen’s residency period for UA Miniresidencies culminates in a public event in Outo olo where the artist shares some of their process and work, titled ManiQueer: Home Reimagined. Free admission!
Experimenting with conversation, intimacy and image-making as the methods, ManiQueer: Home Reimagined is an on-going project that seeks to start an archival process of queer folks from the diaspora in Helsinki. The one-on-one performance is set in the context of a salon speculated and run by Phan where they offer a manicure session and the possibility of a self-portraiture, bringing attention to the hands as a site for agency, emotion perception, traces of memories and sexualities.
ManiQueer invites folks from the diaspora and queer community as well as other marginalized bodies to take up space, to rest and dream together. During the one-on-one performance, they are gently welcomed to engage with Phan in a guided conversation on identities, home-making, celebrating different ways of seeing and expressing queerness.
Considering the history of Kallio as a neighborhood of multi-sexualities, class-diversity and minority businesses, the performance also brings into question the position of art spaces in the discourse on gentrification, imagining a way of resistance by carving space for the communities that could have inhabited the area.
The pop-up salon is open for appointments on 22.2, 23.2, 25.2 at Outo Olo at 14:00–15:30 and 16:30–18:00. For free registration, contact @chere.amelia on Instagram or UrbanApa’s producer at producer@urbanapa.fi. The public sharing takes place on Friday at 17:00 at Outo Olo in the form of a performance demo or discussion.
When: 24 February 2023 at 5pm
Where: Outo olo
Language: English
Phan Nguyen, currently based in Helsinki, is a Vietnamese visual artist. Taking on an autodidactic approach to art-making and artistic research, Phan works primarily across photography and filmmaking besides experimenting with other languages. In their practices, Phan seeks to examine the fluidity of memories, queer identity and belonging through home-making, all of which are informed by their lived experience far from home. They are now exploring performance under queer optics as a means of relating and tending to others in the community.
Accessibility:
The space is wheelchair-accessible with assistance. There is a movable ramp that covers the two steps in the entrance. The door is 67 cm wide. The nearest accessible toilet is a public one at Dallapé park.
UA Miniresidencies is a series of short residencies that aims to enable and support artists’ and makers’ research or work in progress in a soft, light, and communal way. The first iteration is a pilot, but the long term dream is to alleviate the urgent need for working spaces, enrich the local grassroots scene and create expanded structures of support.