Vitor Pascale
“We Play by Different Rules”
EKA Gallery 4.–22.11.2026
Open Tue–Sat 12–6pm Sun 12–4pm, free entry
Opening: Wed, 4.11. at 6 pm
Artist-led tour: Wed 11.11 at 5.30 pm (in English)
Fight and touch. Game and refusal. Bodies meet, resist, and hold on to one another. Here, wrestling becomes a space where strength gives way to vulnerability, where touch is not only an action, but an act of offering.
“We Play by Different Rules” takes inspiration from the history of wrestling, in which oil-covered bodies, physical strength, and athletic performance have transformed male-to-male contact into a public spectacle with homoerotic dimensions, alongside the erotic carvings of Khajuraho’s 10th and 11th century temples in India, whose intimate encounters appear alongside religious imagery. Bringing these references into dialogue, the installation translates these gestures into sculptural forms, reflecting on the connections between queer histories, religion, sport, and play while also exploring the intersections of masculine ideals, intimacy, and desire.
In 2025, Vitor Pascale collaborated with Oskar Suurorg on “Ritual”, a video installation developed during a residency in Barcelona and Paris that examined the symbolic dimensions of wrestling. The current installation traces a continuous interest in this subject, extending this research into sculpture, translating movement into a collection of forms.
Vitor Pascale is an artist born in São Paulo, Brazil, and based in Tallinn, Estonia. He holds an MA in contemporary art (2025) from the Estonian Academy of Arts, where he is also currently pursuing a second Master’s degree in Craft Studies. Working across sculpture, installation, and printmaking, his practice engages with queer experiences, historical representations of the body, and the relationship between play and power. Through gestures, objects, and spatial arrangements, he reimagines playgrounds, domestic spaces, and rituals as sites where masculinity, intimacy, and desire take shape.
Graphic design: Vitor Pascale
Exhibition team: Kaisa Maasik-Koplimets, Valve Saarma, Marily Simenson-Plasko, Andreas Vrettos, Hanna Õunapuu
Production assistant: Oskar Suurorg
Technical support: Eugenio Marini
The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Theatre for Young Audiences, City of Tallinn, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
Opening drinks from Põhjala Brewery.
We would also like to thank Triinu Arula, Simon Janson, Saara Mildeberg and Taavi Teevet.