AyKay

MAY 8: VENICE ON STRIKE As a cultural worker, I am in solidarity with the cultural workers who have called the MAY 8 STRIKE to collectively say no to the genocide pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. Today marks the first Biennale strike called since 1968, and at a larger scale than then. The artists and workers united for the liberation of Palestine!

AK Wane has taken on a 2026 residency period at the #janvaneyckacademie, supported by the @saastamoinenfoundation 👏 They work primarily in video, in between experimental and documentary practices, to give voice to historically underrepresented people. They work within and without the archive, searching for meaning in what has been told and what has not. Wane’s ongoing work "a rememory that belongs to somebody else" is a research into family and colonial histories, and the creation of one’s own archive, a project that they will be further expanding during the JvE residency. Welcome @anna.karima 📷 Photo by Kerry Etola Viderot #maastricht #artistinresidence #artistresidency #saastamoinenfoundation

AK Wane and Lola Olufemi discuss what we can learn from archives of revolutionary movements and which lessons to bring into modern activist practices. 📖 Read ‘Dreaming of Liberation: An Interview with Lola Olufemi’ by Anna Karima “AK” Wane on NO NIIN Issue 31: Persistent Traces of Removal. 🔗 Link in bio @anna.karima @lowlamichelle @micolcuratolo @museumofimpossibleforms Photo: Lola Olufemi at SLOW Seasonal Laboratories for Other Worlds, Museum of Impossible Forms, Helsinki, 2025. Photo by Yelyzaveta Babaieva.

It’s easy to take for granted the paths paved before us and not to give our predecessors their due. Tata Koyo was a trailblazer. She made the world bigger for me and countless others. She gave me my first internship in the early days of @raw.gram2011 and was always a support in my life and practice. She is one of the reasons I have a practice. She met a kid with big dreams and never laughed at them. If anything, she would push and encourage me to dream bigger. You will be missed, Tata but you live on through the RAW Amazones! I wish I could be there with my second family today.

#StopHatredNow starts next week! There's still space in some of our live event, including a very special gathering held at Globe Art Point (@globeartpoint ). On Wednesday, The International Café invites you to join for a relaxed evening of sharing food and burdens. They will provide the food but hope participants come prepared to engage in sincere discussions about mental health and care for the self and others. There will also be a mochi making station! 🍡 The International Café is a project initiated by international students at the Fine Arts Academy in 2023. By making, selling food and/or catering events, these students are raising funds to pay for their tuition fees while sharing recipes and memories. 📌 Sign up via the link in UrbanApa's bio!

Very excited for this! I hope many will join 😆 Posted @withregram • @subverse_thesummit Kids’ VAPPU What: Kids’ Disko When: 4 May 2025, 11:00-16:00 Where: Finnish Museum of Photography’s process space at Kaapelitehdas (the Cable Factory) Come celebrate Vappu for kids on 4 May at the Finnish Museum of Photography Process Space! Kids’ Disko is an event by the Sub-verse cooperative, a group of artists and art workers who are engaged in interrogating the structures that govern the art world. One of these structures is the compartmentalisation of artistic and family lives. We have spoken to many artist-parents about not feeling like their children are welcome in art spaces, that Finland in general feels “child-negative.” Hence, the question came about: “what does an event for children and families look like?” Inspired by HKW’s Kids’ Disco, we hope to create a space for families as well as childless people within the arts to mingle and think through community together. Another question we are preoccupied with is “how do we create something without a budget?” This event is completely volunteer -run and we thank everyone who is donating their time and effort to make it happen. At the Vappu-themed Kids’ Disko, our volunteer DJs will be playing kid-friendly tunes (and taking song requests), and we will have light refreshments and snacks. Ask the little ones what they would want to hear and let us know at the link in bio! Note: the event has been thought of with kids in mind but unaccompanied adults are welcome and encouraged to show up for good vibes and to share some dance moves! The Process Space is located on the first floor of staircase G and it is accessible by wheelchair from the Cable Factory’s main entrance. There are two gender neutral bathrooms on the same floor. Poster by @zinasefue

For almost a year, AK, Isabela and Yasmin have been thinking and discussing alternatives to the systems that govern the art world through questioning their ways of being artists and art practitioners in Finland. In an attempt to bring others into the conversation, we founded the cooperative “Sub-verse”. We held our first gathering on 20th of October at @translibraryhelsinki where we gathered around a warm meal and asked what is needed and lacking in the arts. Our second gathering was on the 5th of November in collaboration with @tian_uniarts @globeartpoint @think.africa_finland as part of “What Now? Changes to the Realities of International Artists in Finland”. Since then, we have been resting, thinking, meeting, traveling and finding the ways we can move forward. Out of that time, we decided to create an online presence where we can share resources, plans and dreams. Follow us for more information and find our contact email in the bio. And thanks to @e__m_emili for being a part of our journey and for all their contributions and support.

Welcome on Thursday 27.3. at 17.00 to hear and discuss about the topic of snacks. AK Wane is an artist, writer and curator from Dakar, Senegal. They work with memory and silenced histories. The lecture 'Food Traditions and Identity' will center on food as part of identity formation within a culture and a family. We will talk about snacks in particular, as the space in between meals. They can vary from country to country, culture to culture, family to family. Come prepared to share about your favorite snacks from childhood and now. Free admission. No pre-registration required. The lecture is in English. The lecture series is organised in cooperation with the Adult Education Center of Helsinki. Tervetuloa torstaina 27.3. klo 17.00 kuulemaan ja keskustelemaan välipaloista. AK Wane on taiteilija, kirjailija ja kuraattori Dakarista, Senegalista. Hän työskentelee muistin ja vaiettujen historioiden parissa. Luennolla "Food Traditions and Identity” keskitytään ruokaan osana identiteetin muodostumista kulttuurissa ja perheessä. Puhumme erityisesti välipaloista aterioiden välisenä tilana. Välipalat voivat vaihdella maasta, kulttuurista ja perheestä toiseen. Vapaa pääsy. Ei ennakkoilmoittautumista. Luento on englanniksi. Nam Yök Häh -näyttelyn luentosarja yhteistyössä @helsingintyovaenopiston kanssa. #hotellijaravintolamuseo #ruokiuteliaisuutta #herkuttelehistorialla #hotelandrestaurantmuseum #events #lectures #feelingfood #foodtraditions #foodculture #museums #museumsinhelsinki #ruokaperinteet #ruokakulttuuri #museot #museoitahelsingissä #tekemistähelsingissä @anna.karima #namyökhäh #näyttelyt #exhibitions

Sub-verse: towards alternative structures Date: 20th of October Time: 16:00-20:00 Place: Trans Library Helsinki Sub-verse. noun. 1.from subversive universe. 2.verse in a poem (from @chrissi3wessels ) Born out of a Whatsapp group chat titled “THE SUMMIT,” AK, Essi, Isabela and Yasmin are hosting a discussion about sustainable and alternative ways of living as artists/art workers. Sub-verse is a space for people to share what they feel is missing from the arts field in Finland and discuss practical methods of responding to those needs. The hosts: AK, Essi, Isabela and Yasmin are artists and art practitioners who have gathered around questions about inclusivity in the arts, making room for alternative structures, and how to survive in a system not designed for all. We hope to engage more people in these conversations and to build a community. What to expect: We hope to create an inviting and comfortable space. We will pose some questions to the group, but also leave some room for free discussion around a warm meal. Language: English Thank you to the Trans Library for hosting us.

Lafidi: white rice, grilled fish, palm oil drizzled on it, pounded okra and netetou (fermented seed seasoning). My grandmother used to make it on Sundays growing up, and no matter how regularly it was on the menu, its appearance was always cause for celebration. During Lafidi Sunday, AK will present Lafidi and it’s importance to her family. We will then share the lafidi and create a map of the different ingredients that constitute it. Date and time: 27.10. 13:00-15:00 Location: Nature space, the Hotel and Restaurant Museum. About the host: AK (she/her) is an artist from Dakar, Senegal who works with archives and memory, thinking of familial and colonial histories. If you would like to know more about AK, ask her directly. The event is free for participants but is limited to 20 people. Please sign up through the link: https://forms.gle/LoBvF2FnDGEp1D9L7 (link in bio) This event is part of “Not Just for the Body,” a series focusing on food and our relations to it. The event will be in English. If you have any questions, please contact: [email protected]

Images from my thesis show: a rememory that belongs to somebody else taken by the amazing @rrong.ci.z . I am beyond grateful to everyone who supported me to make this happen and to everyone who came to see it. I have been feeling slightly deflated in the weeks since taking the show down but I am proud and happy that I was able to do this. To create this body of work built on years of research and thought. To make and follow through on the decision to showcase this work outside of an institution that has made me feel unappreciated and tokenized from day one. I have a long list of people to thank so bear with me. This work would not be possible without my grandmother telling me stories and teaching me everyday, as well as all the women in my family who have supported and grown with me, those I have lived with and those I have never met. My thesis supervisor @danawhabira , who knew when I needed to be shaken and when I needed to be soothed. My mentors and teachers for their support and constant willingness and openness to engage in conversation: @jihantahri , @sarah_lasley , @janiruscica , @kuorinki , @suzanne_mooney1 , Ewa Górzna and Tatu Tuominen. The amazing technicians at the Academy of Fine Arts: Santtu Laine, Tero Niskanen, Aino Huhtaniemi, Matti Salonen, Toni Vallasjoki and the stellar @s.haapamaeki . My studio mates @egregore.lunaire and @hlskhkknn , with whom I have shared space for the past year and whose warmth and welcoming attitude have made our studio a home. The friends who have been more supportive than I could have ever wished for: @isabelahueara , @juliforonda , @eliferdogan.art , @yasminibrahim_ , @pure_moods , @ramiliah , @saara_mariah , @e__m_emili . Everyone in the UniArts Students for Palestine group for always being present and supportive, and the @bioartsociety team for the same. The bus driver who left me in London when I had booked the wrong ticket, leading to a pretty interesting sleepless night in the bus station where many of these ideas were born. And the team @museumofimpossibleforms for generously hosting me when I needed a home for my work.

Will be sharing on this online panel tomorrow with great people @iridaidaq , @saffe_saffron and @kansantauti3.0 . Thanks @urban_apa for inviting me to what I hope will be a fruitful and hopeful conversation. We all need a bit of hope at the moment 🎈