18 & 21 MAR

Lola Olufemi - Clearing space for the As Yet Unseen

TALK and WORKSHOP + DJ Wekesa

Collaboration

SLOW Seasonal Laboratories for Other Worlds

We are excited to host London-based Black feminist writer and researcher Dr. Lola Olufemi, for the first time in Helsinki. A brilliant voice in contemporary writing and the critique of cultural institutions, Olufemi’s research explores the possibilities of alternative poetics and political imagining towards revolutionary presents. 

On March 21st, Olufemi’s lecture and workshop will explore the uses of the political imagination as it relates to crisis, cultural work and the archival material of radical social movements. 

The evening continues with a live set by DJ Wekesa, who will bring some hot grooves and her advocacy for the dancefloor as an intersectional feminist space. 

Olufemi’s workshop on March 21st, 15:00-16:00, is organised in collaboration with Ruskeat Tytöt. The meeting has limited capacity: please sign-up via this form.

In preparation for Olufemi’s visit, Kiila is hosting a reading group of her latest book ‘Experiments in Imagining Otherwise’ (Hajar Press, 2022) on March 18th at 17:00-19:30. This is an open and informal opportunity to read Olufemi’s writing together. All are welcome! Texts will be provided. 

On March 21st, ‘Experiments in Imagining Otherwise’ (Hajar Press, 2022) and a selection of Hajar Press’ publications will be on sale through Pp. kirjakauppa.

Dr. Lola Olufemi is a black feminist writer and Stuart Hall foundation researcher from London who recently completed her doctorate based in the Centre for Research and Education in Art and Media at the University of Westminster. Her work focuses on the uses of the political imagination and its relationship to cultural production, political demands and futurity. She is author of Feminism Interrupted: Disrupting Power (Pluto Press, 2020), Experiments in Imagining Otherwise (Hajar Press, 2021), the forthcoming Against Literature (2026) and a member of 'bare minimum', an interdisciplinary anti-work arts collective.

DJ Wekesa is a Helsinki based dj and a dancer. In their sets they play amapiano, afrobeats, dancehall, hip hop, r&b and queer anthems. Wekesa is a socially skillful dj, who can read the dancefloor while serving surprises and their own strong artistic view. Throughout their DJ career they have given their input for safer space practices to the Helsinki club scene.

This is the first event of SLOW – Seasonal Laboratories for Other Worlds, curated by Micol Curatolo in collaboration with Museum of Impossible Forms. SLOW is a series of exhibitionary workspaces for collective labouring, anti-capitalist dreaming and connections between bodies, places and economies through art. 

PROGRAM

18th March 2025

17:00-19:30 Reading group of Olufemi’s ‘Experiments in Imagining Otherwise’ led by Kiila / Micol Curatolo

21st March 2025

15:00-16:00 Workshop by Lola Olufemi with Ruskeat Tytöt (sign-up required)

18:00-19:30 Talk and Q&A by Lola Olufemi

19:30-20:30 DJ Wekesa 

PARTNERS

Pp. is a small independent bookshop based in Helsinki. The shop sells both fiction and non-fiction titles, emphasising the margins of literatures. The book catalogue has titles in Finnish, English land Swedish. www.paginae.page

Hajar Press is an independent and proudly political publishing house by and for people of colour, based in London, UK. We publish ambitious and politically engaged fiction and nonfiction, including poetry and essays, by writers of colour with original and transformative ways of seeing and imagining the world. www.hajarpress.com

Ruskeat Tytöt is an association, academy and Finland's first Culture Media for Brown Girls by Brown Girls. Its aim is to center and normalise the perspective of Brown people in the society. www.ruskeattytot.fi 

Kiila ry is the oldest functioning nonaligned leftist writers’ and artists’ association in Finland. Kiila was founded in 1936 as a counterforce to Finnish and European fascism, gathering leftist art professionals to participate in definitions of today’s left alongside feminism and movements against capitalism, fascism and racism, toward equality. www.kiila.eu

SLOW is funded by Kone Foundation. 

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