FEMINISM AS SHELTER

We need shelter, physically and mentally. A bomb shelter is perhaps one of the most extreme forms of physical shelters. The mental shelter is built by thoughts, ideas, basic human rights. For some this shelter works well, for many more it doesn't. Christine Langinauer will elaborate on the notion of feminism as shelter
in the footsteps of feminist scholar Sara Ahmed.
Using the building bricks of feminist ideas and thoughts the attempt
is to create a shelter that is truly safe and protective.

Christine Langinauer research interest revolves around intersectional feminism and futurities. She has a strong and diverse background in the art field where she has worked as curator and producer and held various positions of trust. Currently, she is working at the Culture for All service, striving to diversify the Finnish art scene. Langinauer has a degree from the Master's Programme Art Theory, Criticism and Management at the University of Helsinki and the CuratorLab programme at Konstfack in Stockholm.

BUNKERS

During Enver Hoxha's time 600.000 bunkers were built across Albania, especially along its borders. Some of them still stand in place, as relics of paranoid past. Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz Tito ordered the building of a 6.500 m2top secret underground atomic war command inside a mountain in Bosnia. Neither of these massive constructions were ever used. There are many bunkers in Helsinki too. But none of them are as hated as two buildings that do not have any military function, but have been pejoratively called bunkers - Paasitorni and Kulttuuritalo. We will follow the washing off of the communist stigma from these buildings.

"The underground city is, for the most part, invisible and barred from the average city dweller. All the signs of its existence are there, nonetheless; air vents, grated concrete boxes and odd entrances around the city. Some entrances are large enough for a truck to enter, some just seemingly random steel doors on street level. These entry ways are deliberately built so that they do not draw attention. There are also thousands of sewers and metal hatches around town, but only a handful of those hide a vertical shaft with a ladder, or even a few steps to go down… This network is expanding at a considerable rate — you can find construction sites now and again that have open doors and access ramps that go down underground".

We are open to collaboration and joint projects. The reading conversations are usually carried on collectively. We are not reading the selected texts during the meetings, but focusing on the conversation about the subject. The topic of each month's reading varies based on the collective interest. We are reading books, essays, and other materials in topics regarding contemporary art studies, politics, philosophy, criticism, poetry, etc. If you would like to join, just come in (free and open to all).
Feel free to bring your friends.