18 October, Kiasma Theatre, 3 – 4.30 pm

Deep Time Séance: Contamination is a gathering that meditates the circulation and accumulation of manmade toxins, the increasing pollution of our everyday surroundings, of places that feel distant to us and of our increasingly plastic bodies. The séance is organised as part of /theatre.now festival that takes place on Oct 14–18 at Kiasma Theatre. The theme of this year’s festival is climate change.

In the early years of the 20th century, a séance signified a ritualistic session for communicating with the spiritual world. This séance, however, is a performative installation that collides rational and magical tactics in order to encounter the pervasive uncertainty and the ecological concerns of our contemporary reality. Various artistic means are merged ranging from video art, improvised live music, circulating sculptural objects to poetry, choreography and reiki healing. 

Deep Time Séance: Contamination includes a site-specific, performative installation by Tuomas A. Laitinen, Matti Ahopelto, Tapio Viitasaari and Anna Rawlings, circulating energy objects and text by Jaakko Pallasvuo, choreography by Laura Jantunen and a collective reiki session conducted by Pia Lindman. The séance is curated by Jenni Nurmenniemi (HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme) as part of Frontiers in Retreat (2013–2018), a multidisciplinary project around ecologies and contemporary art. 

Working Group: Matti Ahopelto (Siinai), Tuomas A. Laitinen, Tapio Viitasaari, Anna Rawlings: video, music, performance; Jaakko Pallasvuo: energy objects, text; Pia Lindman: reiki; Laura Jantunen: choreography; Jenni Nurmenniemi: curation

Part of the image material used in the performative installation courtesy of the Lost & Found Project: Family Photos Swept Away by 3.11 East Japan Tsunami, photos organised by Munemasa Takahashi. These images were recently used in Kristian Häggblom´s & Laitinen’s ongoing collaborative project dealing with uranium which premiered in Mildura Palimpsest Biennale, Australia earlier in 2015.

Please note that the standard ticket prices for the séance are 15/10 euros and the festival pass for the whole /teatteri.nyt festival program is 30 euros. 

The first Deep Time Séance took place at Residency Unlimited, Brooklyn, New York in April 2015, with the kind support of FCINY – Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, as part of the Mobius fellowship Program for art professionals.

The annual /theatre.now event for contemporary theatre and performance is produced by Kiasma Theatre. The event is part of the four-year SharedSpace: Music Weather Politics 2013-2016 EU project that involves thematic events across Europe. Both projects SharedSpace: Music Weather Politics and Frontiers in Retreat are realised with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.