Over the past decade, artist and art educator Dash Che has focused on highlighting marginal perspectives and experiences. Before moving to Helsinki, Che founded and facilitated Telaboratoria (2017–2019), a creative dance program for trans youth in Russia. In Finland, their performance work explores questions of belonging, foreignness, alienation, desire, and nationalism through a genderqueer and non-EU immigrant perspective. Through their art, Che attempts to bring individuals together across social, cultural, and ideological divides, constructing frameworks in which disagreement is not an obstacle but a condition to be inhabited. Che’s works have been shown at Zodiak Center for New Dance, Drifts Festival, TanzHaus in Zurich and MIRfestival in Athens, to mention a few.
The performance “One Day of Pekka’s Life” unfolds at the crossroads of a show-off dance, a fictional auction of Finnish design, and a performative speech on the crisis of white masculinity. The speech is delivered by Che’s alter ego: Pekka Suomalainen, an invented drag persona. Pekka is a satirical embodiment of the conservative Finnish man, casting himself as a defender of Nordic exceptionalism and eagerly presenting its presumed virtues to outsiders and newcomers. The character emerges from the tension between Che’s genderqueer, non-EU immigrant body and the cultural landscape of Finland.
Curators’ comments: ”The performance fascinatingly combines biting social critique, insightful humor, and aesthetics drawn from multiple sources. Pekka Suomalainen, created by Che, is a brilliant satirical character that allows for a radical deep dive into themes of Finnishness, masculinity, being an outsider, and queer identity.”
Read more: Dash Che homepage