“Foreign Species” private exhibition of Timo Tähkänen will be held in gallery Forum Box.

“In my exhibition Foreign Species, non-human species look for companionship through dating apps, and bodily orifices hide feelings, desires, and shame. The artistic process began from a personal experience: my queer body being seen as foreign – even harmful – much like an invasive species. According to the EU regulation, a species may be considered harmful if it threatens native biodiversity. This resonated deeply with my sense of otherness: the feeling that I am a disturbance, that my desires and hopes are at odds with the norm – even unnatural.

Desire or identity is often labelled unnatural when it doesn’t fit familiar norms. In my exhibition, queer desire and otherness are not in opposition to nature—they are part of it. I began to explore the relationship between queerness and nature. Who or what is foreign? Who has the right to spread? Are we ready to encounter the other within ourselves – and what if it has desires? Could we learn from another – perhaps from our friends in the sea?

The exhibition shifted further when my nearly 20-year-long relationship ended. I had to learn how to be single in a completely different time and rebuild my identity. My works draw from personal experiences and their unruly relationship with gay culture and history, nature, and dreaming.”

Forum Box

6.-29.6.2025

Tue-Sun 12.00-17.00

Free entry