Join the Knowledge Quarter for the first of many online events. While we have to take a break from our in-person private views, we are working with curators to bring the KQ's cultural offering to the digital realm! Join us at 2pm on Wednesday 22 April for an online experience brought to you by the House of Illustration and The Finnish Institute.

Tom of Finland: Love and Liberation celebrates the artist whose unique aesthetic and homoerotic visions had a profound impact on the likes of Queen and the Village People - despite living and working in a country where both homosexuality and pornography were illegal. The exhibition features previously unseen drawings from Tom of Finland Foundation's collection.

The private view will be talked through by curator Olivia Ahmad from the House of Illustration. Jaakko Nousiainen, the Head of Arts & Culture at The Finnish Institute, will also join us for a brief Q&A.

About Olivia Ahmad: Olivia Ahmad is a curator and writer specialising in graphic arts and design. Since 2014 she has been Curator at House of Illustration where she commissions contemporary illustration for installation and curates exhibitions on historic graphics. Her recent exhibitions include Designed in Cuba: Cold War Graphics, Corita Kent: Power Up and Enid Marx: Print, Pattern and Popular Art. Olivia is editor of Varoom, the UK’s leading illustration magazine, and the author of 100 Figures: The Unseen Art of Quentin Blake (Tate, 2018).

About Jaakko Nousiainen: Jaakko has a multidisciplinary background in several different areas of the arts and culture sector. He has worked as a project manager and a producer, studied digitalisation of the performing arts, has a special interest in combining art and new technologies.

Content Warning: Tom of Finland: Love and Liberation contains sexually explicit imagery, including some images that could be interpreted as sexually violent, and may not be suitable for all visitors.

Our Virtual Events:

The KQ's virtual events will take place via Zoom. You do not need to download Zoom software in order to participate - there is a web browser version which works perfectly well. Once you have signed up via Eventbrite you will receive a link by email the day before the event. If you have any questions please get in touch with the KQ events team: Bhav or Jemima.

About the House of Illustration:

House of Illustration is a registered charity and the UK’s only public gallery dedicated solely to illustration and graphic art. Founded by Sir Quentin Blake it opened in July 2014 in King’s Cross, London.

Their exhibition programme explores historic and contemporary illustration and the work of both defining and emerging illustrators. House of Illustration is the only UK gallery commissioning illustration for public display and runs the UK’s only residency for illustrators and graphic artists.

About The Finnish Institute:

The Institute supports the internationalisation of Finnish contemporary art and helps artists, researchers and social and cultural actors to create international networks. It builds partnerships between Irish, British and Finnish organisations by identifying signals of change in the fields of art, culture and society and supporting new perspectives to contemporary issues.

Can't attend but want to receive invitations to future private virtual views? Sign up to our updates here.

Knowledge Quarter Virtual Private View: Tom of Finland