From mid-August to mid-November 2023, Jaehwa Baek (a.k.a. Jae-Nder Fluid, 1993) and Yeosulme Kang (a.k.a. Sulme, 1995) lived and worked in Finland as the artist duo Sulme & Jae-Nder Fluid as part of the Helsinki Artist Residency 2023.

In their collaborative work, they deal with the perspectives of marginalized communities and questions about queer spaces and gender diversity, as well as the fundamental interconnectedness of humanity: “Our narratives have a focus on questioning the boundaries imposed and constructed by society and inviting a deeper exploration of the fluidity of social constructs.”

So far, Sulme & Jae-Nder Fluid have exhibited as a duo in the group exhibition Worldwide Solutions? at qvartr Gallery in Hamburg in 2023 and gave a reading and discussion as part of the program The Art of Emergency by thealit - Frauen.Kultur.Labor Bremen in 2022. The artist duo from South Korea currently live and work in Bremen.

The residency in Helsinki allowed them to concentrate fully on their artistic work - now the duo is back and reports on their time in the north.

“At HIAP, we have access to a studio, a living space and a workshop. This allows us to concentrate fully on our work, free from financial problems.”

Housed in a residential studio on the island of Suomenlinna, Sulme & Jae-Nder Fluid were able to delve further into their artistic exploration of the theme of the fluidity of gender and identity as foreigners. To this end, they also devoted themselves to new forms of technical implementation, such as 3D animation for a joint video installation. Although the Helsinki Artist Residency is not geared towards the presentation of a final result, the duo were able to present a new work at the end of their residency at the two-day open studio day.

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