Video. By Venla Elina Helenius. Sic Gallery Helsinki. 2025.
“Dorothea, you told me that you read
somewhere that what you believed to
be poetic and sublime testimonials of
your conviction that life is a desperate
confrontation with unknown forces are
in reality cute girlish dreams, flaring
with sexual symbols…
You added three dots I added them too
You also told that anything, terrifying or joyful,
or preferably both, can happen
good night sleep tight don’t let the bedbugs bite sad face good night”
(Excerpt from the exhibition text “A GAZE, A FRIEND,”
written by Aleksandra Kiskonen, translated by Eve Lahikainen)
Venla Helenius’s new video work Destina takes as its starting point the femme-enfant figures
painted by surrealist artist Dorothea Tanning in the 1940s and 1950s – figures that once
rebelled against their prescribed role in art history, celebrating their unruly potential and
creating autonomous surreal realities within domestic-like spaces. Developed through a six-
month workshop period with the work’s six young performers, the work has emerged from a
process in which the group interpreted the secrets and latent desires of Tanning’s paintings,
and constructed scenes through these interpretations.
Credits: Concept and Direction – Venla Helenius // Performers – Aniis Hilja Riska, Emily Ida Sonneborn, Ever Harmoni Morshed Solouk, Hannah Everitt, Selya-Melek Özer, Sheila Sadigova // Music, Sound Recording, Sound Mixing and Sound Design – Johannes Birlinger // Cinematography – Venla Helenius // Editing – Venla Helenius // Theatre Educator – Minna Partanen // Post-production dramaturg – Martta Jylhä // Production – Venla Helenius in collaboration with Johannes Birlinger and Minna Partanen // Exhibition text: Aleksandra Kiskonen