I Think My Body No Longer Belongs to Me

The exhibition is linked to a long-standing commitment to strengthening transnational connections and promoting artistic and cultural exchange between Estonia and Germany.

Curated by Triin Metsla, the exhibition opens on Wednesday 9 September at 6 pm.

Participating artists:

• Angela Maasalu
• Dorota Gawęda
• Eglė Kulbokaitė
• Eva Gold

Performance:

• Pire Sova
• Netti Nüganen

Curator:

• Triin Metsla

Producer:

• Mailis Timmi

Graphic design:

• Sonia Ruus

Supported by:

• Estonian Cultural Foundation
• Estonian Ministry of Culture
• Estonian Embassy in Berlin
• Tütar Gallery

“There I find myself at the limits of my existence as a living being. My body, as a living being, frees itself from these limits … nothing remains within me …”

— Julia Kristeva, 1982

‘I Think My Body No Longer Belongs to Me’ explores the extent to which a person has the opportunity and the capacity to make decisions about their own body.

The body lies at the centre of a complex economy of attention, hyper-capitalism and geopolitical struggles, which exert unbearable pressure on the individual body.

The exhibition explores the shifting meanings of the body within today’s political, biological and digital regimes, which influence and exhaust the body in various ways – some more directly, others more subtly.

For example, how the state appropriates and mobilises bodies through biopolitical control in times of war; how reproductive and sexual expectations exhaust the female body; and how digital environments fragment a person’s physical and virtual self.

Furthermore, it explores how contemporary aesthetic images prevent the body from ageing as prescribed, and give rise to the discourse of so-called ‘longevity’ and its internalisation, which exerts a subtle yet persistent pressure to optimise and alter the body.

Drawing on these themes, the exhibition poses a central question: to what extent does the body actually belong to the individual?

The exhibition begins with the performance ‘Body Shares’ by the artists Pire Sova and Netti Nüganen.

The artists use their bodies to create prints, and the resulting works are then offered as shares in a spontaneous auction that mimics the techniques used at livestock auctions.

Through this intervention, the artists question the extent to which the body and its representations constitute property.

What happens to our understanding of the body within the exchange economy – when we begin to interpret it in terms of ownership, exchange and circulation?

Opening & Performance:

• 9 September, 6–9 pm;
• Performance begins at 7 pm

Exhibition dates:

• 9–26 September 2026

Opening hours:

• Thu–Fri, 4 pm–7 pm,
• Sat, 2 pm–5 pm, and by appointment