In the fall of 2021, FCINY is joining forces with art organizations in Helsinki and New York to realize intimate in-person gatherings as part of a program titled Exercises in Togetherness. The program addresses the situation most of us find ourselves in at this moment in time when gatherings with others have become faded nostalgic memories, and our skills in socializing and being with each other may need some polishing off. The program offers time and space for gentle exercises in relearning how to be together.

Exercises in Togetherness at The Month of Books
October 22, 2021

As part of Publics’ The Month of Books program, Publics and the FCINY are hosting commissioned contributions by DeForrest Brown, Jr. and James Hoff, and Asiya Wadud. In addition, the event includes a discussion with the webzine Zelda on their current issue focused on the notion of fantasy. As the society is slowly opening up after the COVID-19 pandemic, the event brings forth notions of collaboration, togetherness and friendship.

As part of the event, Zelda webzine is hosting a discussion in the frame of their 2021 yearly theme of ‘fantasy’, as well as their own feminist online publishing practice, which aims to create space for voices that remain unheard in mainstream media. The participants in the discussion focused on dreaming and working together are Eveliina Lempiäinen and Santtu Räisänen from Zelda, with contributors from the current issue Sophia Mitiku and Autuas Ukkonen.

Exercises in Togetherness – Herding in Helsinki Central Park
September 10, 2021

Together with Frame Contemporary Art Finland, FCINY hosts the event Exercises in Togetherness: Herding in Helsinki Central Park on Friday the 10th of September, as part of Frame’s Rehearsing Hospitalities program. The event takes place at Ruskeasuo stables area in Helsinki, with contributions from artists Chloë Bass, Mari Keski-Korsu and Eero Yli-Vakkuri.

The event takes its form as a sequence of artworks, exercises and encounters considering different forms of togetherness. Chloë Bass, Mari Keski-Korsu and Eero Yli-Vakkuri invite us into encounters with those around us through listening exercises, readings, performative presentations and guided actions. The event brings different artistic practices together to consider various dimensions of security, safety and care within interspecies relations. It is also a place to consider ways of being together and how to care for forms of social interaction and togetherness in times of pandemic.

Exercises in Togetherness is made possible in part by the support of the NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS. We are thankful for their support in bringing Exercises in Togetherness to the public sphere, making conversations like these possible.