Softcore was the first collaborative exhibition by visual artist Reija Meriläinen and sound artist Minna Koivisto. It moves around questions of what it is to be a body and where desires arise. Meriläinen’s soft textile sculptures meet Koivisto’s layered sonic world, forming a multisensory installation that reflects experiences of queer, off-kilter desire. Softcore presents desire as something incomplete, vulnerable, and at times awkward – a state of ongoing transformation.
The exhibition consisted of an interactive six-channel audio sculpture installation where the sculptures are the speakers. One of the soft silicone sculptures is meant to be squeezed and it makes the soundscape change for a moment. A large green armchair breathes deeply and makes little trilling noises when you pass it by to invite the viewer to sit on it. Once you do, it starts making deep rumbly moans and murmurs of pleasure.
In a video, a hand keeps touching the same spot again and again. The soft, wet surface yields, takes in a fingerprint, and plumps back up. Two voices talk about their desires.
(video link upon request)
Inside we are all created wet:
a single cell splits and splits
an organ grows a curious limb
the curious limb probes and prods its way clumsily
towards its origin, wanting to
touch
waiting for you to tickle its
funny bone
everything leaves a trace — yes, but
you don’t have to push hard to make the core shiver
suddenly something just turns you on
and now you are the amplifier
and the speaker
What’s dark, wet, and mysterious all over?
The real sticky-icky situation — that’s what’s inside
The big middle where all slippery slimy roads lead to
(Poem commissioned for the exhibition by Jaakko Uoti)