FinnCycling-Soumi-Perkele! Vol. 2 (2017)

Written & Directed by Martta Tuomaala
Format: 16:9 | Film / participatory installation
Length: Installation version, 1h, film version 53 min

Perkele is a cursing word in Finnish and refers to the devil. Suomi means Finland in Finnish, but Soumi means absolutely nothing. FinnCycling-Soumi-Perkele! dives into the dark side of Finland. It is a combination of politics, dark humour and protest rap in a form of an indoor cycling exercise: one woman’s gritty protest against all-male austerity politics.

The video installation resembles a basic workout program, in that it includes rhythmic protest songs and instructions for indoor cycling. The artist herself serves as the fitness instructor: spouting her own monologues, interfering with the lyrics by shouting, and encouraging the audience to take part and sing along. The artwork explores burning global topics, such as unemployment, precarious conditions of the workers, gendered violence and increasing inequality, in a local context through means of parody.

More information:

The artwork was originally created as a statement against Finland’s previous government led by prime minister Juha Sipilä. During his term in 2015-2019, Juha Sipilä, a politician of the Centre Party of Finland with a background in engineering and business, pushed the interests of big companies and investors trying to bring any entity in his way to its knees, such as the trade union movement and other human rights activist organisations.

Written, Directed, Performed & Produced by Martta Tuomaala
Music APROX. & R. Liininen
Rap & lyrics Terttu Järvelä
Cinematography, Lighting & Coloring Kerttu Hakkarainen
Sound Design & Sound Recording Ilmari Jyskä
Graphics, Animations & Editing Johannes Valkonen
Translation Milla Clynes
Subtitles Ville Hakonen & Jussi Sandhu, Wacky Tie Films

Funded by
Arts Promotion Centre Finland 
Saari Residence
The Finnish Cultural Foundation
Mesenaatti Crowdfunding