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Leea Klemola’s latest piece Vaimoni, Casanova ("Casavova, my wife" at the Kuopio City Theatre in 2016) is shamelessly over-the-top, in true Klemola style. It weaves together themes from Klemola’s earlier plays, such as the Arctic Trilogy (Kokkola, Into the Cold, New Karleby). In Klemola’s world, borders are made for crossing.

Leea Klemola: “An old lady embarks on her last conquest, on the stream of life with her two companions, sex and death. Marriage feels like a prison to her, and the stream of life symbolises freedom. This old lady is a conqueror, she is almost like a mask, Casanova’s persona, someone careless who never gets hurt or gives in to jealousy or petty behaviour... But a persona can never mean true intimacy. We do not wear masks at home, the home is not in the stream of life.”  

Casanova shuns banal relationship drama. Klemola sees movement and permanence through the eyes of an anthropologist: “I feel like the human legacy of being on the move, of travelling together, is embedded in us. To chase the prey with our fellow humans. And then there’s the idea of home. Of a stable place that is sanctioned for the nuclear family. That is the opposite of stream. This contradiction between the will to surrender and the longing for security fascinates me.”  

Leea Klemola’s approach is physical and experimental. In her plays, people and other creatures are flesh and bone, which is why they often appear naked on the stage. Humans are animals. Animals are humans. All creatures come from the same roots. There’s no room for metaphysical or philosophical abstractions.  

“Theatre is unquestionably a physical form of art. It is all about the body, and bodies are mortal. Both in the audience and on stage. Fragile, defenceless bodies.”  

“The authenticity of the experience is vital here. In theatre, I can love someone who I could never love outside the play. I can even love my own darkest secrets.”  

“For me, theatre is a place where everything is up for redefining. I do not have to buy into other people’s definitions of beauty, virtue or humor or of what love looks like. If something feels ugly to me, I can call it ugly.”  

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See Leea Klemola and other playwrights at New Plays from Finland.

Energy games try to solve the scarcity of food, water and energy

Sanna Uuttu: "To play the game, you have to make choices."

The Energiapolitiikka.esitys project ("energypolicy.performance") of Live Art Society combines science and the arts. The collaborative project is staged on a microgeneration plant. The plant is located on a real allotment on Finnish soil. The purpose of the piece of land is to generate information and solutions for producing the necessary amount of energy and securing the availability of clean water and food in the future. The problem-solving game tries to untangle this skein of global issues.

Energy games will be played during fall 2016 and winter 2017. The game takes place at the miniature laboratory that represents the allotment. The players of the energy game are experts in different fields who try to solve puzzles with the spectators. The puzzles are common problems citizens are faced with when they try to establish and manage an energy farm.

Players have to make choices in the game in order to proceed, Sanna Uuttu, dramaturgist of the team explains the logic of the project.

Added value to a piece of land

Finland is a large, sparsely populated country. Could this land of dying villages and small towns gain added value by turning itself into a small power plant and kitchen garden? The Energiapolitiikka.esitys project explores ways of developing microgeneration techniques, solar and wind power, and also storage. What a convenient charging station for electric cars! In order to find sustainable ways of producing food, farming on the allotment will focus on traditional varieties that are particularly well suited for the Nordic climate. 

When I told my mother, who lives in a small town, about our performance project, she started thinking about new ways of using her plot, which is currently under-utilised, Sanna Uuttu says.

The Energiapolitiikka.esitys project will last for three years. The project was convened by Atro Kahiluoto, Director and Artist Professor in Performing Arts, Reija Hirvikoski, Stage, Video and Costumer Designer and Doctor of Arts and Olli Pitkänen, Master of Science in Engineering and Master of Laws from IPR University Center.

Contact: Eeva Kemppi, producer, info(a)esitys.fi

A new MA programme in Ecology and Contemporary Performance

Tuija Kokkonen: "The programme sees performance as an open space."

The Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki has launched an international MA programme called Ecology and Contemporary Performance (MAECP), which explores questions of performance and performing in an era of ecological crisis. 

MA Tuija Kokkonen has been appointed as a part-time lecturer in the programme. She is one of the pioneering practitioners and theorists in the field of ecology, posthumanism and performance. She is finalizing her doctoral research project “The Potential Nature of Performance. The Relationship to the Non-Human on the Performance Event from the Perspective of Duration and Potentiality.”

How is the programme unique?

There are no other degree programmes of this kind in the fields of performance arts and scholarship. The programme reflects on the posthuman or posthumous turn, which is recognizable in performance arts and in inter-disciplinary scholarship. 

Tuija Kokkonen: “Theatre Academy Helsinki has explored questions of performance and performing in an era of ecological crisis for a long time, using the methods of artistic research. Thus, we already had a framework and a foundation on which to build the teaching, research and questions. We could create a believable degree programme.” 

“The key concept is a trans-disciplinary approach. The degree programme sees performance as an open space, and the border-crossing nature of the question of ecology and performance is its underlying principle. The six students admitted to the programme are critical social subjects who situate their work in various disciplines, such as activism, art-science collaborations and new aesthetics.” 

What new issue does this programme bring to the arts and society? 

As a social critic, Tuija Kokkonen sees how the art-science collaboration could serve as a platform for innovations. Business life is quick to detect and identify new potential. Now, the competition centres around intellectual capital, which is considered to be the most effective driver of economic growth. 

Art and artistic research which focuses on ecological questions generates intellectual capital, but Kokkonen is wary of allowing businesses and the export industry to exploit this potential. 

The Ecology and Contemporary Performance programme provides tools for artistic practices and working methods, which lead to radical re-thinking and inter-connectedness. Kokkonen's first course concentrates on mental ecology and challenges the artists to apply sustainable artistic practices in different environments. 

Learn more about the Ecology and Contemporary Performance MA programme at Theatre Academy in Helsinki.

TINFO AT YOUR SERVICE

Toolkit for Theatre Production and Mobility

The website gives theatre professionals practical advice on producing a stage play and taking a show on the road. The toolkit includes budget examples, sample contracts, tips for distribution of duties and other essential production tools.

Case: Theatre Group W (TGW), run by a non-profit cultural organization, exempted from paying the value-added tax (VAT). TGW starts to produce a stage production and they want to tour with it after the domestic run of the show. Where and how will TGW find the resources (people, time, spaces, funding, etc.) to put together a stage production? Where to perform and how to expand the performance season? How to plan and manage a tour or a guest performance abroad?

www.tinfo.fi/en/Toolkit_for_Theatre_Production_and_Mobility

New Plays from Finland

“An old lady embarks on her last conquest, on the stream of life with her two companions, sex and death. Marriage feels like a prison to her, and the stream of life symbolises freedom. This old lady is a conqueror, she is almost like a mask, Casanova’s persona, someone careless who never gets hurt or gives in to jealousy or petty behaviour... But a persona can never mean true intimacy. We do not wear masks at home, the home is not in the stream of life.”  

Leea Klemola, a playwright and theatre director on her latest piece

Take a look at New Plays from Finland for Casanova, My Wife by Leea Klemola and other selected plays.

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

Touring Performances

Finnish performances available for touring.

www.tinfo.fi/touring-performances

What's On Stage

What's On Stage in Finland NOW ... a selection made by TINFO.

www.tinfo.fi/en/On_Stage__Now

Publications

TINFO News is a magazine on Finnish theatre, drama and artists.

View the issues (e-publications):

Also available in TINFO web store:

www.tinfo.fi/en/TINFO_News_magazines

TINFO Grant for translations of Finnish plays

TINFO – Theatre Info Finland awards grants for translations of Finnish plays. We accept applications continuously. Grant decisions are four to five times a year. We aim to support international productions of Finnish plays.

Who can apply for a TINFO translation grant?

Playwrights
Drama agencies
Theatres
Festivals
Translators

The grant will be paid directly to the translator.

ILONA – Database of Performances

ILONA is a Finnish theatre database. Theatre Info Finland and the Theatre Museum in cooperation created the online version of ILONA. 

Using the ILONA database, you can find all Finnish professional theatre performances from the 19th century right up to the present day. 

You can search information based on the name or date of the performance, theatre or playwright. You can also carry out searches on other team members. 

In addition to the actual Performance Search, you can use the Quick Search facility, where you can enter the name of a team member or a play. 

http://ilona.tinfo.fi/

Theatre Map of Finland 

Finland is a true theatre land. The Finnish theatre network covers the whole country from South to North. Every year, Finns buy three million theatre tickets, which is a lot for a country with a population of five million.

Welcome to the theatres of Finland!

INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVALS IN FINLAND 2016

/theatre.now | 18 – 21 Oct 2016, Helsinki

The annual /theatre.now event for contemporary theatre and performance is produced by Kiasma Theatre. This year’s edition is intertwined in seeing stage, mind and body from a contemporary psychoanalytic point of view. The programme consists of lectures, discussions, workshops and performances. This year’s programme is targeted both professionals and public. A Belgian artist Sarah Vanhee will be performing her piece Turning, Turning.

Programme 

www.kiasma.fi

R.E.A.D. #3 – Reading EuropeAn Drama Festival | 26 – 28 Oct 2016, Helsinki

A drama reading festival R.E.A.D presents new European drama in October in Helsinki.

http://theatrecollective.com

Moving in November – Contemporary Dance Festival | 28 Oct – 5 Nov 2016, Helsinki & Tallinn

Moving in November is the oldest and most significant contemporary dance festival in the Helsinki area. The festival, founded in 1986, brings international artists and performances to Finland and instigates discourse with its edgy programming.

Moving in November is an independently curated, topical and progressive festival. Its mission is to educate and inspire local audiences. The festival strives to be topical, international and progressive.

A dance festival could be curated by picking international gems from a vast selection, counting on proven success. But Moving in November wants to expand into the unknown, to broaden horizons, to stand by the artists and to open up new doors. Thus, the festival also presents new works, or works that have not yet made their mark in the international scene. Moving in November is proud to act as a coproducer of new creations, both in Finland and internationally.

http://movinginnovember.fi/

TIP-Fest – Turku International Puppetry Festival | 9 – 13 Nov 2016, Turku

TIP-Fest is an international puppetry festival that was first organized in 2010. Festival presents a wide range of Finnish and international puppet theatre shows for all ages. TIP-Fest is organized by Aura of Puppets, a cooperation network for professional puppeteers in Turku.

Contact: info(a)auraofpuppets.com

http://auraofpuppets.com/tipfest/

What the Cirk? mini-festival | 15 – 19 Nov 2016, Helsinki

Baltic Circle and Cirko – Center for New Circus shuffle the curtain between theatre and new circus

One of the core questions of the Baltic Circle Festival is: What is theatre? And what it could be, both in terms of form and content. The programme has been reaching towards the outlines of e.g. dance, music and visual arts, thus bringing different publics and artists together, through challenging and offering new viewpoints. This year, we shuffle the curtain between theatre and new circus.

Cirko – Center for New Circus invites the audience for the first time to the What the Cirk? mini-festival, and together with Baltic Circle, both festivals invite the audience to performances and to celebrate together at the Love me in November club. During the festival week, Baltic Circle takes over Cirko’s spaces in Suvilahti, and What the Cirk? offers three works floating on the borders of different performing arts, aiming to question previously accepted categories.

http://balticcircle.fi/en

www.cirko.fi/en/ohjelma

Baltic Circle | 15 – 20 Nov 2016, Helsinki

The next edition of the international contemporary theatre festival Baltic Circle takes place in Helsinki 15-20 November 2016. The programme includes several works by Finnish artists such as Sara Melleri, Johannes Ekholm and the HYPE collective, Noora Dadu, Other Spaces and the working group composed of Milja Aho, Anna-Mari Karvonen, Anna Mustonen and Emmi Venna. The opening performance of the festival is Riding on a Cloud by the Lebanese director Rabih Mroué, previously shown around the world. This year’s festival builds alliances. In addition to alliances, the festival programme also examines the impacts of societal conditions and political decisions on the lives of individuals or communities.

Programme

http://balticcircle.fi/en

EVENTS

Save Syria – Peace march and solidarity campaign and concert | 24 Oct 2016, Helsinki

The only way to stop the suffering of the Syrian people is by putting an end to the war. On United Nations Day, 24th of October, we are marching in Helsinki for peace in Syria. The peace march shall start at 5pm from Helsinki Railway Square, we will then proceed through the city to Senate Square. At Senate Square, we will form with our bodies a peace sign that will fill up the entire Square, and ask that participants bring candles for this purpose.

After the march there will be a benefit concert in support of the Syrian people. The concert will start at 19 in Circus (Salomonkatu 1-3). The performer list is to be published soon. The proceeds from the concert will go to benefit the Syrian humanitarian efforts of the different Finnish organizations currently working in Syria in partnership with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The concert venue is wheelchair accessible.

The inhumane civil war in Syria has been going on for over five years, claiming over 430,000 lives. Over half of the Syrian population has fled their homes fearing for their lives, some staying inside Syrian borders and others crossing over the border to other countries as refugees. Join the peace march and demand and end to the war!

Read more on Facebook

Help spread the word:
#SaveSyria #Helsinki4Syria

Seminar: Art as a means to an end? Use of arts for social aims | 2 Dec 2016, Helsinki

A seminar about the use of performing arts for social aims and the use of society for artistic aims 

Is cultural policy of today too focused on the social aspects and benefits of artistic projects? What can artists gain from working in the social field and vice versa? Which are the biggest difficulties when crossing the sectors? What can or should arts and theatre do in times of crisis or instability?

The seminar is the final event of Meeting the Odyssey, an international theatre project with a strong socioartistic dimension. The cases presented during the day will cover different aspects of the project. The aim of the seminar is to lift the discussion from the project to a local, national and European level. 

Programme (PDF) 

Please sign up here before 18 November.

The role of culture and civil society as arenas for integration | 7 – 8 Dec 2016, Helsinki

Nordic Conference

Invitation to a Nordic conference in Helsinki, 7 and 8 December 2016

Location: National Museum of Finland, Helsinki

Refugee flows into the Nordic Region and Europe are the biggest seen since the Second World War. This puts pressure on our Nordic and European societies. It is therefore vital that the expertise and knowledge available in the Nordic countries are leveraged as part of integration processes. This includes sharing such knowledge and creating networks to better utilise existing positive experiences.

Cultural encounters can and should be used to help ease integration, increase social cohesion, and lay the foundations for a good life going forwards, regardless of whether a refugee’s residence in a Nordic country is short-term or permanent. The Nordic countries share a wealth of experience of culture as an arena for integration – it is now time to share this knowledge and leverage what we know works best. 

The role of culture and civil society as arenas for integration has already been identified by the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation as an early first initiative, and this conference in Helsinki during Finland’s presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers is a first step towards achieving this.

Target group: 

The seminar is aimed at decision-makers and officials in the cultural sector, who also manage integration projects or have political responsibility for integration issues. Staff and volunteers at organisations that deal with these issues, such as staff at museums, libraries, cultural schools, and the like, are also invited.

Moderator:

Susanne Delastacia, journalist and debater. Former presenter on Swedish radio, TV4, and SVT. Debater in society-related topics such as integration and social issues.

Programme

www.kulturkontaktnord.org

Blaue Frau workshops with Noora Dadu | 8 – 9 Dec 2016, Helsinki

WHEN:
Thursday 8.12.2016 kl 10-15
Friday 9.12.2016 kl 10-15

WHERE:
Annankatu 31-33 D, inneryard: E, in Helsinki
Buzzer: Suomen Näyttelijäliitto

PARTICIPANTS:
FULL – 16 Total (waiting list available)
For anyone who is troubled by this subject. For performing artists. Also for non-performing artists who are ready to work on stage with this theme.

WORKSHOP DETAILS:
Disagreement-Workshop invites people to create new methods for communication, how to be together and how to share a common space.

In this workshop we will practice disagreement. The goal is to find new suggestions for conflict solving both in an individual level and in a larger context.

It is also a question of the stage, the rules of working in performing arts. We will try to create a stage that accepts all sorts of beings without pretending that we all love each other or think we like the same things, enjoy the same things. What happens to the stage if we stop being afraid of showing our opinions and wishes? What happens if we stop obeying the director? What happens if we stop following the rules? Can we create optionary rules for the stage? Does it change the way we act, move or breathe on stage?

This workshop tries to find fruitful, joyful and merciful ways to praise our differences.

Tactics used in the workshop are discussion, dance/movement and stage exercises.

We will also collectively create new tactics to rehearse disagreement by finding ways to deconstruct common power relations and unspoken rules that make people feel unconfortable in situations of disagreement.

BIO:
Noora Dadu is an actress and performance maker who is very much bothered by conflicts. Fear of conflict has been one of her major inspirations in life and career. She is very much interested in finding solutions to questions together with other people.

FURTHER INFO:
Comfortable working clothes. Bring some music you like. Bring a cloth you like (don’t put it on).

*It is necessary for the whole group to be present the whole workshop

We have a limited amount of places, so please sign up at info(a)blauefrau.com!!

Please be aware that we reserve the right to make changes at anytime.

www.blauefrau.com

OPEN CALLS

Open call for Mustarinda Artist/Writer/Researcher Residencies | deadline 1 Nov 2016

Place: Hyrynsalmi (Kainuu province), Finland
Working period: 1 - 3 months during, 1. February 2017 – 31. May 2017 
Application dl:  1. November 2016 

The selected artists / writers will be announced in 9th of November

In 2017 the Mustarinda residency focuses on post-fossil fuel experiments: becoming aware of how our lives and our capabilities to experience things are conditioned by fossil fuels and trying out how we might reach beyond their massive use. These attempts are materially supported by the residency’s solar panels, geothermal heating, compost heating, electric car and food garden. The residency guests selected through this open call can decide how much they want to engage in these experiments.

More info: http://mustarinda.fi/en/society/residency

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