Live Art Bookshop: Globus Hystericus Book Launch

Join us for the UK launch of performance art duo Kainulainen & Latva’s book Globus Hystericus, published in 2025 by Finnish publishing house Taide.

Finnish performance art duo Kainulainen & Latva have been making extraordinary performances in both their native Finland and internationally since 2014. Informed by narratives of personal trauma, twinned with accounts of Finnish folklore, they have produced a prolific and unique body of work from their profoundly intimate and collaborative dynamic.

Performance artists Katri Kainulainen and Maximilian Latva will give a presentation with video clips and slides of their practice, followed by a Q&A session with special guests Dominic Johnson and Martin O’Brien. Key themes explored in the neurodivergent duo’s work include trauma, power relations and gender issues.

The book contains six texts by scholars and artists reflecting on the affects and inner workings of their practice. It includes comprehensive documentation of full colour images showing the impactful richness, humour, and poignant perversity of their visual vocabulary. Combined, the textual and visual content offers the reader perspectives on performance art as a contemporary and vital art form of compelling relevancy.

Copies of Globus Hystericus will be available to buy at the launch, or to order through Live Art Bookshop after the event.

The event is supported by The Finnish Culture Foundation and Kone Foundation.