Opening 7.8.2025 at 18–20, including the Critical Club (at 19–20).
Welcome to Humanoid Space – a place where the boundary between human and non-human gets fuzzy and reality obtains a new form. The OTHER SPACES collective invites you to step into a world where our inner humanoid has space to breathe, move and express itself. A simple but imaginative exercise opens up a chance to observe our lives through a different view – as if we were ourselves alien observers in our own world.
The Humanoid Space exhibition transforms the Critical Gallery into a living, changing installation. At first the space is controlled by humans, but little by little it becomes the territory of humanoids – not just physically, but also contextually and semantically. What happens, when we allow existence that doesn’t respect the conditions of humanity? Through Humanoid Space we open up a window to otherness – but at the same time it mittors our own selves in a deep way. It asks: what will we become, when we no longer remain mere humans?
The exhibition doesn’t obey the rules of a traditional performance. The humanoids may show themselves, move, observe – or stay hidden. You might glimpse them, through curtains or in a passing moment. The installation lives by their acts, and you can sense the change: something has shifted, even if you didn’t see it happening.
Humanoid Space is an experience of what happens when we allow ourselves to observe the world without the obviousness so common to humanity. It is an opportunity to be silent, observative, and perhaps, for a moment, to become something else.
HUMANOID SPACE SCHEDULE
When humanoids are present at the gallery, we will give them privacy for their own activities. At such times, you can peek through the curtains and possibly get a glimpse of the humanoids. It may also be possible to notice the humanoid outside in the vicinity of the gallery.
The humanoids are present most likely on the following days:
Mon 11. – Tue 12.8.
Mon 25. – Tue 26.8.
Mon 8.- Tue 9.9.
The exhibition also invites you to get in general familiar with the Other Spaces collective and its artistic practice.
During Gallery Week, 26.–31.8.2025, the exhibition will also feature THE HUMANOID FORM workshop. This is a non-stop workshop where you can discuss fashion, clothing and their significance with a humanoid. If you wish, you can also let the humanoid come up with a new style for you. What do clothing and dress tell us about ourselves, and what do we reveal about ourselves through our clothing? The workshop is open from 12 noon to 6 p.m. However, the humanoids may occasionally take a coffee break or a nap.
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Humanoid Space is part of a long-term artistic project that examines human phenomena from the perspective of an extraterrestrial visitor. The project’s first performance, Humanoid Hypothesis, was staged at the Kaisa Library of the University of Helsinki in 2015. The project has also visited Kiasma Art Museum (2016), the Jyväskylä Art Museum, Emma Art Museum and the Brighton Fringe Festival, among others. As a part of the project, performance artist and philosopher Esa Kirkkopelto has written an essay entitled Humanoid Hypothesis, Posthumanism within the Limits of Reason, which is available in the exhibition too.
Timo Jokitalo is the convener of Humanoid Space, and the working group also includes the Other Spaces artists Hanna Heino, Eeva Kemppi, Judit Kemppilä, Heli Keto, Kati Korosuo, Kaisa-Liisa Logrén, Maarit Myllynen, Anu Nirkko and Helena Ratinen.
Toisissa tiloissa is a Helsinki-based performance art collective founded in 2004. The core of the collective’s activities is collective physical exercises that allow people to come into contact with unfamiliar ways of being and experiencing, i.e. to visit ‘other spaces’. Over the course of 20 years, the collective has developed more than 200 exercises and presented and taught them in numerous participatory performances and workshops at various festivals and events. Based on these exercises, the group prepares thematic performances such as Reindeer Safari, Humanoid Hypothesis, Great Barrier Reef and Enlightenment Machine, which have been presented at numerous festivals and production houses both in Finland and abroad.
The Other Spaces collective has visited Turku before, for example with the premiere of Kuvitteellisten olentojen kokoelma (Collection of Imaginary Creatures) in 2020 at the Turku Main Library in collaboration with Tehdas Teatteri, and with the Reindeer Safari performance at the Turku Neighbourhood Weeks in 2012.