On the Fringes of Theatre
Activities around Kiasma Theatre inspire performances which renew dramatic expression but often refuse to be categorised. The spring programme presents a new generation of performance artists found on the fringes of theatre.
The young artists specialise in performance, contemporary dance, new circus, audiovisual art, media art… Some performances owe nothing to theatre. Nevertheless, the performances always comment on theatre in some way because they are performed in a theatre. The artists have many things in common: crossing the boundaries of art forms, an international approach and multi-artistic identity. Effortless use of new technology – or misuse, as the artists in PixelACHE determine their relationship with technology – is also a shared element.
NEW PERSPECTIVES
On the Fringes of Theatre presents four widely different performances. Me and Paratits explores tourism, but also remembering and collecting reminiscences, the relationship between video, photographs and live performance and mixing fact and fiction. The performance is designed and directed by Pilvi Porkola and Julius Elo, who studied in the degree programme of Performance and Theory of the Theatre Academy. Daisy Diesel is the house band.
Terike Haapoja, the designer, director and writer of Optical Machine performance also studied in the same degree programme with Porkola and Elo. The performance is audiovisual drama that deconstructs conventions related to the tradition of scenic imagery. The performance sheds light on the tradition of illusions in theatres and scientific imagery. Besides Haapoja, the performers are Pia Antikainen, Janne Suutarinen and Tuomas Timonen.
Choreographer Riina Saastamoinen’s Shine is an expedition to intimate and emotional states. The performance explores how the cultural background is reflected in the concept of femininity and its interpretation. The performance is visualised by Michael Van den Abeele. Sato Endo, Ayelen Parolin and Riina Saastamoinen are the dancers in the group.
Med Andra Ord – Bubbling Under is a tale-telling new circus performance including aerial acrobatics and juggling. Among the performers are young Finnish circus artist Ilona Jäntti and Henna Kaikula, who graduated from the Circus Cirkörs Circus Piloterna school, Stockholm. John-Paul Zaccarini from Britain, who has worked as a dancer, an aerialist and choreographer, has directed the performance.
ART AND TECHNOLOGY
Today, contemporary art denotes an umbrella concept that fluently accommodates many art forms. PixelACHE, an annual audiovisual laboratory exploring the fringe areas of art, design and technology is again in the spring programme of Kiasma Theatre.
A Finnish premiere, Grey Area’s ambient music project WEATHER MATRIX opens the festival. The film material of the audiovisual concert was filmed on the recording tours of the group. In addition, it includes footage from weather observation cameras located throughout Finland. The concert is part of the Landscape Samplers entity, including Sami Järvenpää’s and Sami Klemola’s esteti-SOINTI project of the Kamppi building site and David Crawford’s Stop Motion Studies depicting people and different situations in the world’s undergrounds and Singing Bridges by Australian Jodi Rose, based on the sound from the vibration of bridges.
Tuomo Tammenpää’s interactive body building bench BrandBody brings interactive art works, visionary furniture and streched technology to the festival. In addition, the Association of Experimental Electronics from Helsinki and TELOK from Tampere present their latest innovation, for example, instruments made out of scrap from tips.
Virve Sutinen
