Why Medieval/Fantasy? : Bridging the Gap in the Parenthesis

Abstract

This is the written MFA thesis component consisting of the documentation and thematic breakdown of the lecture performance and installation work "Why Medieval/Fantasy?", exhibited at the MFA show Kuvan Kevät 2025 at The Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki during the exhibition period of 17.5-15.6.2025.

In the thematic breakdown I elaborate on my argument of a link between the prevalence of neo-medievalism in the 21st century, technofeudalism within late-stage capitalism, the rapid digitalization of our modes of information production and authorship, the Gutenberg Parenthesis theory and the ways that medieval history has been, and is currently, misrepresented and co-opted for fascist ends. Another goal of this written thesis is to expand on the suggested plausibility of gender-variant, trans-adjacent and otherwise socially diverse practices during the European medieval period. At a particularly focal point is elaborating on queer and especially trans medieval history, and the long process of historical obfuscation that has led to various marginalized groups being denied coevalness with their contemporaries.

For the documentation I go briefly over the material processes and working methods used in the creation of the artworks sculptural pieces, how modern and historical working methods and aesthetics have intermingled in the process, and their support of the thematics related to bridging dialogic and material connections across-time. Highlighting, the continuous and currently discernible overlap of a neo-medieval now, and the medieval past. Beyond the aforementioned, I also elaborate on my use of the lecture performance as a form, and on how I utilize it as a site of assertion for claiming an authorial voice, as related to the themes of claiming a place within medieval history and within contemporary notions of respectability.