Elis Hannikainen and Vappu Jalonen: Distress Run

The first round starts when you manage to get out of the house, and continues with your enjoyment of being an active citizen and belonging to a group with OK oxygen uptake and speed endurance.

The exercising bodies in Distress Run are awkward and in need of support. The works use the theme of sports and exercise to depict various subjects: the leaking, unpredictable body; tiredness or depression; gender anxiety; the disgusting sisu (grit) that is linked to nationalism; the material support kinesiology tape provides for the body; fantasies of lying on a mattress made of slushy snow. Distress Run repeatedly situates exercising bodies, placing them within desires, norms, the matter of a body.

The exhibition consists of a video work, text installations, sculptural objects, sound, and light. The exhibition’s sound designer is Kaino Wennerstrand.

Distress Run is based on Hannikainen and Jalonen’s endurance sports hobbies, running and cross-country skiing, and their shared artistic process. In the exhibition, the artists continue their work that focuses on everyday bodily experiences, means of support, and questions related to power.

The exhibition is funded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture (AVEK), and the Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP).