SATURDAYS

Series of Five Performances
Supported by Taike (Arts Promotion Center Finland)

Photographer: Aman Askarizad
Read Matti Tanskanen’s report on this project here.

On the 23rd of August 2021, an announcement was published on the Helsingin Sanomat website, inviting all eligible Finns who could communicate in English and were strangers to artist Parsa Kamehkhosh to participate in a series of durational performances titled “Saturdays.” The concept behind the project was that Parsa Kamehkhosh would dedicate 16 hours on a Saturday, starting from 8:00 in the morning until midnight (00:00), to spend time with each of the first five registered strangers. The artist captured the essence of each day through a documentation process involving two photographs: one taken in the morning when the artist met the participant, and another captured before they parted ways. As the day progressed, the artist also collected meaningful objects that served as tokens symbolizing the highlights of that particular day. In June 2022,  all the documents of this project were presented at Myymälä 2 Gallery in Helsinki.

As a stranger, one is inherently disconnected from the social structures and relationships that form the bedrock of communal life. This sense of isolation can be a double-edged sword, providing a sense of liberation and autonomy, while also potentially leading to feelings of alienation and loneliness. Saturdays project explores the experience of being a stranger in the context of Finnish society by creating certain situations for social interactions.