A Greater Miracle of Perception, 2019. Pavilion of Finland, Biennale Arte 2019 Foto Francesco Galli

“It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck,
and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate.”
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time, 1963


The MWC is formed and informed by a transdisciplinary and transnational community of artists, filmmakers, writers, intellectuals, performers, and activists including: writer Maryan Abdulkarim; writer and filmmaker Khadar Ahmed; writer and filmmaker Hassan Blasim; choreographer Sonya Lindfors; artist and activist Outi Pieski; visual artist and musician Leena Pukki; visual artist and activist Martta Tuomaala; spatial designer Lorenzo Sandoval; cinematographer Christopher L. Thomas and storyteller Suvi West, as well as curators Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Christopher Wessels, and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung.

Exploring the miracle as a poetic vehicle from which to expand perceptions and experiences, the exhibition is realised through cinematic collaborations by members of the collective, and a site-specific sculptural installation by Outi Pieski gesturing to the transnationality of the Sámi people across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Creating a space of encounters upon which to pause and reflect, the pavilion challenges the notion of national representation and belonging.

“We are shifting beyond the realm of the possible, exploring moments regarded as ‘failures’ and exploring technologies of listening and seeing to chart the journey of the impossible,” says the collective, “while deliberating the importance of processuality in collective practices.”


"For us, this is an exciting journey", says Raija Koli, Director of Frame and commissioner of the exhibition. "By bringing together the multidisciplinary practices and diverse backgrounds of its members, the Miracle Workers are rearticulating the idea of a contemporary art exhibition at the Finnish Pavilion. The collective is also exploring the parameters of the biennial concept by taking the Biennale out of Venice and all the way to Karasjok into the circumpolar North.”

Running additionally to the Biennale Arte 2019, the performative, discursive, filmic and sonic arm of the MWC is manifested through a series of public events taking place in Berlin, Venice, Karasjok and Helsinki during 2019. By contesting the presupposed structures of exhibition making in biennial contexts, the collective questions the given hierarchies, and notions of the impossible, in the everyday.


Address: Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, Max Liebermann Haus, Pariser Platz 7, 10117 Berlin, Germany Date: 3 April 2019
Time: 5 – 9pm

A Greater Miracle of Perception: The Berlin Iteration is the first in the series of public events developed by the Miracle Workers Collective for the Finnish Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

The Berlin Iteration is devised to present the project and open the conversation of the diverse practices of the MWC to international audiences. The programme includes screenings, readings, performances and lectures by members of the collective and invited guests. The evening includes: a performance lecture delving into the project Máttaráhku ládjogahpir - Foremothers’ Horn Hat by artist Outi Pieski and archaeologist Eeva-Kristiina Harlin; a reading by writer Hassan Blasim of his new book Allah 99; a film screening of FinnCycling-Soumi-Perkele! by artist Martta Tuomaala; The Night Thief, a film screening and conversation with filmmaker Khadar Ahmed and writer Maryan Abdulkarim, amongst others.

The event is organised in collaboration with Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, The Finnish Institute in Germany and Frame Contemporary Art Finland with the support of Goethe-Institut Finnland.