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In Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen’s glittering and futuristic worlds, blind people drive cars and the elderly wish for care robots to protect them from their human caregivers. In the exhibition When I grow up, I will become a coat rack, she invites us to better understand the consequences of excluding disabled people from decision-making and technological innovation.
Wallinheimo-Heimonen is both an artist and an activist. She highlights unnecessary dependencies between the disabled community and medical and social infrastructures that perpetuate the lower status of disability in society. Adjusting, fixing, rehabilitating or converting people to what is supposed to be normal is no longer politically correct for any minority, and it shouldn’t also be the case for disabled people.
In her playful and humorous worlds where things can be different, she makes us think critically about the potential of inclusion and awareness. In addition, she points out the contribution technology could make if understood from a place of joy and pleasure and what would change if quality of life was prioritised over profit, efficiency and ableism.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is How Great is Your Darkness?, a film that expands on these themes. Originally created as a silent comedy for La Biennale di Venezia 2024, the film now features a unique score by Istanbul-based composer Kemal Gorey, specially commissioned by 1646. Gorey composed the music entirely based on the film’s audio description. The final mix was crafted by Slau Halatyn, at BeSharp Studio in New York City. The film is produced by Kenno Filmi.
The exhibition is curated by Clara Pallí Monguilod and Johan Gustavsson and supported by the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux as part of the pARTir initiative, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, and the Alfred Kordelin Foundation.
Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen (b. 1974) is a multidisciplinary artist and disability activist who works with textile art, installation, film and performance. In 2024 she was one of three artists selected to the Pavilion of Finland at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. In 2019 Wallinheimo-Heimonen received the Finnish State Prize for Multidisciplinary Art and in 2018 her short film about care robotics (Reflector of Living Will which comes to 1646) won the Best Screenplay at Pisa Robotic Film Festival. Wallinheimo-Heimonen´s work spans from sculpture and film to performance and activism within disability politics and policy. She has facilitated workshops in Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia and China and participated in exhibitions in Finland and abroad. In 2022, Wallinheimo-Heimonen worked in the Harbourfront Centre Toronto artist residency as part of the Nordic Bridges programme and participated in the 8th Biennial of Contemporary Art Fundación ONCE in Madrid. She holds a BA from Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Helsinki. She has osteogenesis imperfecta as a piquant characteristic.
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