Garden on the Grave

The slow labour of decay.

Garden on the Grave is a visceral audio performance unfolding in a cemetery. Blending an audiowalk with somatic practices, a death meditation and traces of ritual and incantation, it gently reshapes perception. Participants are invited into a series of simple actions – at times solitary, at times shared.

Garden on the Grave turns our attention to the soil beneath our feet and the more-than-human world that sustains us. For an hour, the cemetery becomes not only a place of endings, but a garden where decay is another form of abundance.

The performance is experienced through your own smartphone and headphones. It involves walking on uneven ground and lying down.

Duration: ca 60 minutes.
Recommended for ages 16 and above.

Garden on the Grave premiered in 2025 at Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen, as part of the PARKLIFE performance series initiated by Public Performance (DK).

Credits PARKLIFE:
Concept, Directing and Design: Samuli Laine and Jussi Matikainen / WAUHAUS
Performance Dramaturgy: Tuomas Laitinen
Voice-over: Heidi Soidinsalo
Research Assistance: Paula Sasse
Producer: Minttu-Maria Jäävuori and Julia Hovi / WAUHAUS
Production: Public Performance (DK), WAUHAUS
Photos: Malle Madsen

Credits Homo Novus:
Concept, Directing and Design: Samuli Laine and Jussi Matikainen / WAUHAUS
Performance Dramaturgy: Tuomas Laitinen
Voice-over: Elīna Vaska-Botere
Research Assistance: Agnese Krivade
Latvian Translation: Agnese Krivade
Sound design assistant: Mimi Kantola
Voiceover recording and editing: Henriks Eliass Zēgners
Local Producer: Ance Ancova (New Theatre Institute of Latvia)

Support: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, The Danish Arts council, Nordic Culture Point, Svenska kulturfonden, KULTURFONDEN FOR FINLAND OG DANMARK