26.4.2024

After its Norwegian premiere at Oslo Internasjole teaterfestival in March, The Companion is going on new adventures. In July the performance will visit Baltoscandal festival in Rakvere and in September our robot friend will appear at Dansens Hus in Stockholm.

The Companion on tour

Photo: Katri Naukkarinen

The Companion is a captivating encounter between an individual audience member and a robotic dog. Blurring the lines between the mechanical and the organic, The Companion asks if we are willing to surrender our trust and vulnerability to a non-human companion? Through a unique combination of interaction and play, the performance calls forth our innate desire for connection.



Performances at Baltoscandal between 4.–7.7.2024

Performances at Dansens Hus (Accelerator gallery) 3.–8.9.2024

Read more




4.3.2024

The Companion premiers at Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival

The companion – a co-production between WAUHAUS (Helsinki), Black Box teater (Oslo) and Kiasma Theatre (Helsinki) – Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival Tuesday 12th of March 2024. The Companion is a private encounter between one audience member and a robotic dog. In the performance, the robot entices the human participant into different negotiations, interactions and play.

Photo: Sofia Okkonen

The performance is for one person at a time. Children aged 5–12 can experience an adapted version of the performance together with an accompanying adult. The performance language is English.
Maximum duration 20min.

The Companion will premiere at Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival Tuesday 12th of March 2024. More touring dates available soon.

Read more


22.12.2023

WAUHAUS is transforming

WAUHAUS continues as a collective of seven members

2023 was an eventful year for WAUHAUS. We've created new works and toured with old ones and had the privilege of making many wonderful friends. We are very grateful for the inspiring encounters and shared moments! For next year we are preparing new exciting work in the realms of mechanical friends and hybrid bodies.

As a collective we are yet again transforming: Our beloved WAUHAUS member Jani-Matti Salo is continuing his amazing artistic work in other contexts. We thank Jani-Matti for all of our years and projects together and wish him the best with everything! To keep up with all the news on Jani-Matti’s work, make sure to follow him on instagram @janimattisalo


Jokistudio residency

29.11.2023

Aliisa Talja and Samuli Laine, the core working group of Spheres of Care, will be in Turku at Jokistudio residency for the last week of November

Photo: Aliisa Talja

Photo: WAUHAUS

Laine and Talja will be focusing on reflection and rest. They will also host a open studio where they will share thoughts and reflections on the past events.

Jokistudio offers residencies, workshops, lectures, and various platforms for artists. Jokistudio provides a space for encounters, education, as well as for lighter, exploratory, and still-developing works and artistic processes.


What’s Fermenting?
22.11.2023

1.11.2023

What’s fermenting? Is a pause, a moment for personal reflection and a space for sharing as a part of Islands of Kinship event week in Lauttasaari Manor.

Photo: Aliisa Talja

The event invites people together to stop and share in a world shaken by diverse crises of sustainability. During the afternoon we will tune into sensing our relationship to the environment, as well as the thoughts and experiences related to environment and environmental crises. We will discuss these topics and evoke thoughts about means of change.

The programme of the event consists of listening, reflection, sharing own experiences, and facilitated discussion in small groups. Fermented drinks will be served.

Planning and facilitation: Aliisa Talja and Samuli Laine

The event is co-produced by WAUHAUS, IHME Helsinki and Frame Contemporary Art Finland

When and where:
Location: Lauttasaari Manor, Otavatie 10, Helsinki
Time: Wednesday 22 November 2023 at 15:00-17:30

The language of the event is English.

  • Location: Lauttasaari Manor, Otavatie 10, Helsinki

    Time: Wednesday 22 November 2023 at 15:00-17:30

    The event is open to all and free of charge but requires registration. The event can fit maximum of 25 participants.

    REGISTER

  • You can get to the Lauttasaari Manor by metro or the buses 21, 22, 22B, 104, 112N and 192T. The address of the Manor is Otavantie 10, 00200 Helsinki. For people with mobility challenges, there is barrier-free access to the Manor at the back of the building, from Kauppaneuvoksentie 18. We recommend arriving by public transportation, on foot or by bike.

    The event includes regular breaks and there will also be calm spaces to take a break. The participants are free to come and go during the event.

    The language of the event is English.


    In this event, we comply by Frame Contemporary Art Finland’s safer space guidelines. We do not accept racism, discrimination based on gender, sexuality or any other characteristic or trait. Come as you are, without assumptions about others.

What’s Fermenting? is part of the program of Transformating Actions for Contemporary Art event that is organized by Frame Contemporary Art Finland.


23.8.2023

This autumn we gather again around the warm glow of Spheres of Care at ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival in Kuopio and Oulu, Finland. Spheres of Care, a concept by non-disciplinary artist Aliisa Talja and WAUHAUS's Samuli Laine, took place for the first time last year. Now it will be held in Kuopio and in Oulu as a one day event. 

The soothing gathering Spheres of Care returns!

Photo: WAUHAUS

Spheres of Care is a performative event, a nurturing oasis and reservoir of rest, where we focus on care amidst emotional, social, and ecological crises. The event gathers together researchers, artists, activists, and other interested parties. It offers a multitude of perspectives to care and nurture; we look at care in relation to self, society, and soil. We gather around a wide range of information through lectures, practices, and performances.

Spheres of Care features this year in Kuopio Tero Mustonen from Snowchange Cooperative, reseacher Inna Perheentupa and artist Leena Reittu and in Oulu farmer and union representative at MTK Aleksis Kyrö, university researcher and senior lecturer Hanna Ylöstalo and artist Sannu Vaarala. 

Spheres of care at ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival on the 14th of September at 13–19.
Spheres of care in Oulu, Pehkola organized by the city of Oulu & Culture Centre Valve, 23rd of September.

The language of the event is English and food will be served. 

Read more and book your seat here.
Registration to Spheres of Care Oulu tba


19.5.2023

This summer Paris will be wet and slippery. Our spectacle Fluids arrives at the Festival Paris l´été. Fluids has four shows at the festival between 19–22 July, which will spread all around the city for three weeks.

A lubealicious summer in Paris!

Kuva: Katri Naukkarinen

Fluids is a one part strange spectacle on ice, one part slimy orgy. In Fluids, bodies are vulnerable, limited, and dissolve into each other.

In Fluids WAUHAUS creates an impossibly slippery stage for the bodies of the performers. The performance is enabled by J-Lube, a lubricant that creates a movement language continuosly fluxuating between clumsiness and gracefulness. Fluids invites the audience to encounter empathy, intimacy, and failure.

Fluids is a coproduction between Estonian Soltumatu Tantsu Lava and WAUHAUS.

Shows in Paris l’été Festival at Theatre Lycée Decour, 12 Avenue Trudaine, 75009 Paris
19.7. at 20
20.7. at 20
21.7. at 20
22.7. at 20

Get your tickets here


Apr 27, 2023

Kansalliset dialogit

Epävarmuudessa eläminen – taide ja kansalaistoiminta.

9.5.2023 / Klo 18-20 / Kaapelitehdas


Kutsumme sinut mukaan WAUHAUSin fasilitoimaan Kansalliset dialogit -keskusteluun. Kansallisilla dialogeilla rakennetaan ymmärrystä erilaisista yhteiskunnallisista ilmiöistä, haasteista ja mahdollisuuksista. Niitä järjestetään maanlaajuisesti. WAUHAUS järjestää dialogin aiheesta taide ja kansalaistoiminta.

Elämme lukemattomien kriisien keskellä. Ilmastonmuutos, biodiversiteettikato, poliittinen polariaatio, Venäjän hyökkäyssota, energia- ja hoivakriisi, sekä ihmisoikeuksia ja demokraattisia instituutioita kyseenalaistavat ajatusvirtaukset kaikki haastavat elämäämme.

Pohdimme fasilitoidussa dialogissa yhdessä sitä, miten toimia taiteilijana tai taideinstituutiona näiden katastrofien keskellä; Kuinka vastata kriiseihin? Mitä taiteella voi tehdä? Miten ja mihin vaikuttaa? Mikä on taiteen rooli ja mitä ovat sen mahdollisuudet yhteiskunnallisessa vaikuttamisessa? Mitkä asiat luovat toivoa, mitkä pelottavat?

Tule mukaan keskustelemaan kansalaistoiminnasta, taiteesta ja niiden suhteesta. Olisi ihanaa jos pääsisit paikalle!

Ilmoittaudu mukaan. Paikkoja on rajoitetusti:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qxHxychsrYHbu4jmDlTXFnkPHIH1A5qxQbvV1FzyiEg/edit

Mukaan otetaan ilmoittautumisjärjestyksessä.

Aika: 9.5.2023 / klo 18-20

Paikka: Kaapelitehdas

Dialogin muoto: lähikokoontuminen

Kesto: kaksi tuntia

Kieli: Suomi

Ryhmän koko on 6–12 keskustelijaa.

Mikä on Kansallinen dialogi?

Kyseessä ei ole paneeli, seminaari tai vastaava ylesötapahtuma. Kansalliset dialogit perustuvat Sitran kehittämään Erätauko-nimiseen keskustelumuotoon. Sen lähestymistapa on dialogi, joka on rakentava ja tasavertainen tapa keskustella. Dialogissa tähdätään aiheen, toisten ihmisten tai itsen parempaan ymmärtämiseen, mutta ei yksimielisyyteen tai nopeisiin ratkaisuihin. Parhaimmillaan dialogissa syntyy ennalta-arvaamattomia oivalluksia ja uutta ajattelua. Tavoitteena on ymmärtää paremmin, mitä epävarmuudessa eläminen on tällä hetkellä sinulle ja yhteisöllesi, miten toimitte kriisien keskellä ja paremman maailman hyväksi?

Dialogin aikana ja sen jälkeen voi olla erilaisia näkemyksiä aiheesta — emme pyri yksimielisyyteen. Keskustelun lopuksi pohditaan, mitä olemme oppineet tai oivaltaneet yhteisen keskustelun aikana. Keskustelussa ei tarvitse tehdä päätöksiä tai etsiä ratkaisuja, mutta sellaisia voi nousta esiin. Voimme jutella rauhassa ja keskustelu käydään luottamuksellisesti.

Keskustelu kirjataan siten, ettei siinä käy ilmi keitä keskustelussa on ollut mukana. Kaikki kirjaukset kerätään koosteeksi, joka julkaistaan myöhemmin. Koosteesta ei voi tunnistaa yksittäisiä keskustelijoita. Dialogeista tehdään julkinen yhteenveto, joka on kaikkien luettavissa Kansallisten dialogien sivuilla. Valtiovarainministeriö toimittaa dialogien yhteenvedon myös kuntien ja valtion hallinnolle.

Kenelle?

Taiteen ja kulttuurin kentällä toimiville ihmisille, jotka ovat kiinnostuneet kansalaistoiminnasta. Ihmisille, jotka pohtivat taiteen ja yhteiskunnan suhdetta. Ihmisille, jotka toimivat kulttuuri-instituutioissa. Ihmisille, jotka kaipaavat ja etsivät korjaavampia tapoja reagoida tuhoon ja tuhoavaan politiikkaan.


Kuka dialogin järjestää?

W A U H A U S on Helsingistä käsin toimiva monialainen taidekollektiivi. WAUHAUSin työt asettuvat usein eri taiteenalojen väliin ja voivat tapahtua hyvin erilaisissa tiloissa. Teoksia on nähty niin pienissä black box -teattereissa ja kaupunkitiloissa kuin suurella urheilustadionilla ja Kansallisteatterin päänäyttämöllä. WAUHAUSin jäsenet ovat skenografi Laura Haapakangas, ohjaaja Juni Klein, skenografi Samuli Laine, äänisuunnittelija Jussi Matikainen, koreografi Jarkko Partanen, mediataiteilija Jani-Matti Salo ja äänisuunnittelija Heidi Soidinsalo.

Mitä dialogissa käytännössä tehdään?

Osallistujilta odotetaan halua ja kykyä kuunnella ja keskustella ohjatusti toisten osallistujien kanssa.



Feb 21, 2023

Some Unexpected Remnants opens at The Helsinki Art Museum HAM

A two-channel video installation by WAUHAUS and Jonatan Sundström, commissioned and curated by The Helsinki Art Museum HAM, opens as part of the group exhibition Shared Space (March 3–August 13, 2023).


Photo: HAM/Kirsi Halkola

Some Unexpected Remnants is an independent fragment of A Great Mess, a performance that premiered at the 2021 Helsinki Biennial. The video work takes us to the peak of Vuosaarenhuippu, a former landfill that has been transformed into a recreational area, and to an active, partially landscaped waste centre in Kuopio. The video unfolds in a seemingly frozen but ever-expanding moment in time that evokes the idea of cyclicity and circularity.

In addition to Some Unexpected Remnants, the exhibition at HAM presents A Great Mess – The Manual. The manual consists of a script and instructions for restaging the performance at a later time. The multi-part commission has been accessioned to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, which is managed by HAM.

HAM’s group exhibition Shared space focuses on art in public space and reflects on coexistence and the sense of place. Along with WAUHAUS the exhibition features artists Alma Heikkilä, Nayab Ikram, Sanna Kannisto, Jan Lütjohann, Other Spaces and Bogna Luiza Wiśniewska. The exhibition focuses on art in public space and reflects on coexistence and the sense of place. For more information on the exhibition, visit https://www.hamhelsinki.fi/en/upcoming-exhibitions/

Working group of Some Unexpected Remnants: from WAUHAUS Laura Haapakangas, Julia Hovi, Juni Klein, Jussi Matikainen and Jarkko Partanen working together with video artist Jonatan Sundström, and in collaboration with voice artists Marketta Tikkanen and Aksinja Lommi, and composer Tomi Pekkola.

A Great Mess – The Manual working group: WAUHAUS members Juni Klein, Samuli Laine, Jussi Matikainen and Jarkko Partanen. The visuals are based on photographs by Katri Naukkarinen and Pekka Mäkinen and video by Jonatan Sundström.


Feb 13, 2023

TO BE GIVEN OVER BY TERIKE HAAPOJA AND WAUHAUS

To Be Given Over by WAUHAUS and visual artist Terike Haapoja is a new work that explores different aspects of bodily interdependence and vulnerability. It is based on Haapoja's original concept and has been developed and directed together with WAUHAUS’s choreographer Jarkko Partanen.


Photo: Uwa Iduozee

To Be Given Over takes as its starting point the movement between encountering the other as a subject, in their worldliness, and as an object, a body. The work borrows its title from Judith Butler's 2020 book The Force of Nonviolence. Following in Butler's footsteps, the work reflects on how we are all, as bodily, vulnerable beings, always already given over to others. To Be Given Over will be produced in its entirety as an international co-production. The two-part project comprises a video installation and a stage work. The stage work will premiere at DansiT Choreography Centre's Multiplié Dance Festival in Trondheim, Norway on March 22, 2023. It is co-produced by WAUHAUS, DansiT (Norway) and Kanuti Gildi SAAL (Estonia), in collaboration with Rosendal Teater (Norway).

To Be Given Over is WAUHAUS’s and Terike Haapoja's first artistic collaboration. Haapoja is a visual artist whose work investigates the existential and political boundaries of our world. Haapoja has focused specifically on issues arising from the anthropocentric world view of Western traditions. Animality, multispecies politics, cohabitation, time, loss, and repairing connections are recurring themes in Haapoja’s work. Haapoja represented Finland at the 2013 Venice Biennale and in 2016 they were awarded both the ANTI Live Art Prize and the State Prize for Media Art for their collaborative work with Laura Gustafsson on the piece Museum of Inhumanity.

To Be Given Over will premiere on the 22nd of March 2023 at Multiplié Dance Festival in Trondheim, Norway. Read more here


Jan 24, 2023

sky every day premiers at espoo city theatre in 2023

sky every day – a co-production between Espoo City Theatre and WAUHAUS arts collective – will premiere at Revontulihalli on September 13, 2023. In the play written by Pipsa Lonka, the coexistence of seagulls and humans at a beach resort creates a peculiarly humorous and audiovisually striking performance about mortality.


Photo: Jonatan Sundström

sky every day explores the coexistence of humans and seagulls at a seaside resort over four days. In the performance, flocks of humans gather at a sunny beach resort, pass time in the solitude of hotel rooms, and chat mindlessly on the terrace of an oceanside restaurant. The beach’s idle nostalgia is disrupted by a wall of dead fish that is pushed onto the shore from the murky ocean. The seagulls inhabiting the landscape observe the sunburnt beachdwellers and their activities from different perspectives.

The performance focuses on the reality of seagulls alongside the human experience. A central theme of the performance is the mortality we share with other species. The narration of this peculiarly comical and audiovisually holistic work is driven by documentary video and sound, alongside the space, light, and music of the performance. sky every day also includes Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s piece Cloud trio (2009), which is performed live by the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra.

The working group from WAUHAUS includes Laura Haapakangas, Juni Klein, Jani-Matti Salo, and Heidi Soidinsalo. Working with them are cinematographer Jonatan Sundström and performer Salla Loper. sky every day is written by Pipsa Lonka. The performance includes Kaija Saariaho’s composition Cloud Trio (2009) played by the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra.


Supported by: Kone Foundation, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Uudet Klassikot – Nya klassiker fund, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Theatre Info Finland, Svenska Kulturfonden

read more

sky every day premieres at Espoo City Theatre on the 13th of September 2023. Get your tickets here.


Sep 20, 2022

Spheres of care-call for applications is open!

Spheres of Care is a performative event, a nurturing oasis and reservoir of rest, where we focus on care amidst emotional, social, and ecological crises. Call for applications is open from 19th September to October 2nd.

Photo: Samuli Laine

The three-day event gathers together researchers, artists, activists, and other interested parties. The event offers a multitude of perspectives to care and nurture; we look at care in relation to self, society, and soil. We gather around a wide range of information through lectures, practices, and performances.

Location: Vuotalo, Mosaiikkitori 2 (Vuosaarentie 7), Vuosaari, 00980 Helsinki

Time: October 28th-30th

Language: The primary language is Finnish, with some of the keynotes and discussions in English.

The participant capacity is limited. An open call is now open for applications

Apply here: https://forms.gle/AXKQ9LDRAFZPRUw19

Production: WAUHAUS x Aliisa Talja in collaboration with Vuotalo

The event is free of charge.

The event is supported by The City of Helsinki, Arts Promotion Center Finland, Kone foundation

See program and schedule: here


Aug 8, 2022

WAUHAUS part of GRAND OPENING

WAUHAUS is part of the grand opening exhibition “14 Rooms” at the newly renovated Puistokatu 4 – a Space for Science and Hope. The century old mansion, located in the Kaivopuisto district in Helsinki, Finland, is an event space and safe space for research, work and discourse on the current ecological crisis.

photo: Heidi Soidinsalo

Puistokatu 4 is a joint project between the Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation and Maj and Thor Nessling Foundation. WAUHAUS members Samuli Laine and Heidi Soidinsalo have created an installation called Treehouse as part of an immersive exhibition that takes over the entire mansion. Recycling elements from previous works by WAUHAUS, Treehouse seeks to reflect our interconnectedness to our surroundings and other species. Visitors are invited into a tent to view a recording of a talk by evolutionary biologist Aura Raulo that is accompanied by video material created by Jonathan Sundström.

Treehouse has been created from materials made in collaboration with others for WAUHAUS’ previous works. They have now been made into a tent, a video and a soundscape.

Concept & creation: Heidi Soidinsalo & Samuli Laine
Video lecture: Aura Raulo at the event A Messy Seminar (WAUHAUS, HAM, Helsinki Biennial)
Additional video material: Jonatan Sundström. The material is excess from videos recorded for a video work made in collaboration with Helsinki Art Museum. The finished video will premiere at HAM in 2023.
Crafting of tent and pillow cases: Eeva Varmola
Tent fabric: from the performance Sapiens – The story of a storytelling species (The Finnish National Theatre in collaboration with Zodiak and WAUHAUS, based on Yuval Noah Harari’s original work, adaptation and performance script by Minna Leino)

The exhibition 14 Rooms is open August 8th to 21st, every day at 10–17

Free of charge

Address: Puistokatu 4, Helsinki, Finland

Read more
here


Mar 1, 2022

Come to play!

Playhouse by WAUHAUS on 29.–30.3. at the Multiplié dance festival in Trondheim, Norway.

photo: Katri Naukkarinen

Playhouse is an event which offers a chance for reconnecting with our bodies and desires. A space for letting go, a safer meeting place with a different rhythm. In Playhouse there is a guided programme where you are invited to make new connections through physical contact with other visitors.

You can visit Playhouse on different days during the festival. Visitors can come in and leave the space at any time when Playhouse is open, but please be respectful of what’s going on while entering and exiting.   

Concept: Jarkko Partanen
Scenography: Laura Haapakangas   
Production: WAUHAUS, Santarcangelo Festival (IT) & Vooruit (BE).  
Supported by: Arts Promotion Center Finland and Nordic Culture Point 
Sponsored by: Treenikamat.fi


21.8.2021

Koe Suurenmoinen Sotku ensimmäisten joukossa

Kuva: Katri Naukkarinen

Kuva: Katri Naukkarinen

WAUHAUS on palkittu helsinkiläinen taidekollektiivi, jonka aiempia töitä on nähty muun muassa Helsingin Kansallisteatterin suurella näyttämöllä sekä urheilustadioneilla. Kollektiivin uusin teos Suurenmoinen sotku nähdään osana nyt käynnissä olevaa Helsinki Biennaalia sekä kansainvälisen ANTI-nykytaidefestivaalin pääteoksena elo- ja syyskuussa 2021.

WAUHAUSin paikkaerityinen esitys Suurenmoinen sotku kutsuu kävijän Vuosaarenhuipulle, joka on entisen kaatopaikan alueelle rakennettu virkistysalue. Auringonlaskun aikaan tapahtuvassa esityksessä kuljetaan helteen paahtaman ajuruohon, pois heitetyn materian, huokoisen ihon, antautumisen, maansiirtokoneiden ja inhimillisen mielikuvituksen maastoissa. Suurenmoinen sotku avaa näkymiä siihen valtavaan keskinäisten riippuvuuksien verkostoon, jossa elämämme muiden eliölajien ja materiaalien kanssa on rakentunut ja yhä rakentuu.

Nyt etsimme ihmisiä yleisöksi kenraaliharjoitukseen maanantaina 23.8.2021, harjoitus alkaa klo 19 ja päättyy noin klo 22. Esitys on ulkoilmaesitys. Tule kurkistamaan kulissien taakse ja näe, kuinka WAUHAUSin upea paikkaerityinen esitys syntyy. Harjoitusten jälkeen on varattu hetki sille, että yleisö voi halutessaan esittää työryhmälle kysymyksiä.

Ilmainen edestakainen bussikuljetus harjoituksiin lähtee klo 19:00 Vuosaaren metroaseman vierestä Mosaiikkitorin sillan kääntöpaikalta (katso kartta: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mosaiikkitorin+silta,+00980+Helsinki/

Huom! Esityksessä kuljetaan vaikeakulkuisessa maastossa, joten valitettavasti esitys ei ole esteetön. Esitys tapahtuu ilta-aikaan ulkoilmassa. Illat voivat olla kylmiä ja tuulisia, joten varustauduthan siis lämpimin, säänmukaisin vaatetuksin. Esityksessä kuljetaan välillä korkeassa heinässä, joten suosittelemme pukemaan ylle pitkät housut sekä korkeavartiset sukat, jotka voi vetää lahkeiden ylle. Suosittelemme ottamaan mukaan myös oman vesipullon. Yleisölle tarjotaan esityksen ajaksi maastossa liikkumiseen sopivat kengät. Esityksessä suositellaan maskin käyttöä.

Ilmoittautumiset koeyleisöksi sähköpostitse osoitteeseen: production@wauhaus.fi

Mainitsethan ilmoittautuessa kengänkokosi, kiitos. Paikkoja on rajattu määrä ja paikat varataan ilmoittautumisjärjestyksessä.

LIPUNVARAUS ESITYKSIIN 24.8.–4.9.: https://helsinkibiennaali.fi/artist/wauhaus/



12.8.2021

A Great Mess-Registration is open

Photo: Samuli Laine

Photo: Samuli Laine

A Great Mess is now open for registration! The performance premieres on the 24th of August in Vuosaari as part of the Helsinki Biennial.

A Great Mess, a site-specific performance by WAUHAUS, invites its viewers to a hilltop called Vuosaarenhuippu, a former landfill that has been converted into a recreation area. The performance takes place during sunset and journeys among sun-scorched thymes, discarded matter, porous skin, surrendering, earthmoving machines, and the landscapes of human imagination. A Great Mess offers new perspectives on the vast web of interdependencies in which we exist together with other organisms and materials. Due to the difficult landscape, the performance site is unfortunately not accessible. A bus transports the audience to the performance and back.

Performances:

In Finnish: TUE 24.8. at 19:00 | THU 26.8. at 19:00 | FRI 27.8. at 19:00 | SAT 28.8. at 19:00
In Swedish: SUN 29.8. at 18.45 | TUE 31.8. at 18.45
In English: WED 1.9. at 18.30 | THU 2.9. at 18.30 | FRI 3.9. at 18.30 | SAT 4.9. at 18.30

Registration: Helsinki Biennial

Meeting place: The bus leaves from Mosaiikkitori bridge, Vuosaari.

Working group: From WAUHAUS Laura Haapakangas, Anni Klein, Samuli Laine, Jussi Matikainen, and Jarkko Partanen. They are joined by performers Per Ehrström and Sara Grotenfelt, producer-performer Mira Eskelinen, evolutionary biologist Aura Raulo, scenography assistant Siiri Matinpuro, and sound technician Timo Tikka.

Production: HAM Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki Biennial, ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival & WAUHAUS

Supported by: Kone Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, City of Helsinki, Stiftelsen Tre Smeder sr, Konstsamfundet, Kulturfonden

Additional info: Due to the difficult landscape, the performance site is unfortunately not accessible. The performance is held outdoors in the evening, so please prepare yourself with warm clothing that suits the current weather conditions.

During the performance we sometimes move on high hay, so we recommend wearing clothes that cover your whole body. It is also recommended that you bring your own water bottle. We will provide you with shoes appropriate for the terrain to be used during the performance.

The maximum number of participants is 40, and we hope to see all registered participants in the performance. Using a face mask is recommended during the performance. If you have any symptoms of flu, i.e. a runny nose, cough, sore throat, headache or fever, please stay home.


Photo: Samuli Laine

20.5.2021

A Messy Seminar

Photo: Samuli Laine

Note! Due to illness, the seminar is postponed to August 11th at 6 to 7.30 pm.

WAUHAUS’s seminar takes viewers to four different landscapes. The live seminar from Vuosaarenhuippu takes participants around the world with guest speakers to observe perspectives into interdependencies between humans and other life forms. The event will be streamed via Zoom and Helsinki Biennial's Facebook page on 11 August 2021 from 6 to 7.30 pm (EET). The seminar is in Finnish and will be published later as a recording on the Helsinki Biennial's YouTube channel and in Vimeo. The recording is subtitled in English.

Seminar speakers:

Aura Raulo, evolutionary biologist, artist, and Pietist, who works as a researcher at the University of Oxford and University of Turku. Terike Haapoja, visual artist living in New York and Inkoo. Päivi Magga, Vuohčču, Sápmi – Vuotso, Sápmi. Working on a doctoral dissertation on the Sami cultural environment at the University of Oulu. The event on Facebook

WAUHAUS will moderate the event. The event is part of the Helsinki Biennial programme.


18.12.2010

WAUHAUS’ strategies for promoting equality and anti-racism


WAUHAUS is a collective of seven artists that works in a multidisciplinary way on the performing arts field. We acknowledge that we have opportunities to affect the structures within which our work takes place, as well as the power and responsibility to do so.

WAUHAUS wishes to be an overt, anti-racist and discrimination-free agent on the performingarts field. We do not condone racism, discrimination or harassment in our work or our spaces. Anti-racist work means learning, making visible and talking about structural discrimination, and developing new and more equal structures and practices.

Promoting equality and anti-racism is a long-term job that falls on everyone’s shoulders. Below, we have listed the measures and actions we will take to further equality and anti-racism. We thank the working group of Call for Action for Finnish Art Institutions for their invitation to recognise racism in the Finnish art field and to root it out. Thank you to everyone who has set an example by sharing their own strategies.

STRATEGIES:

Equality plan

We will establish an equality working group whose task is to create an equality plan for WAUHAUS. The equality plan will include all the strategies and principles of equality that the community has planned and implemented. We will hire outside help to create the equality plan, which will be completed during the spring of 2021.

Ethical guidelines

It is important to us that all artistic processes follow discrimination-free practices. We will create ethical guidelines, which the community will do its utmost to follow. The guidelines will be a part of all our work, and all who work within the community (both permanent members and visiting artists) must commit to acting accordingly. These guidelines will be included in the collective’s contracts of employment and joint production. Any collaboration requires committing to our ethical guidelines.

Safer space guidelines

We hope that everyone who takes part in our events will feel as safe as possible, and so we will create safer space guidelines for each context, space and situation. In our work, we will create porous structures that yield to people’s personal needs, not vice versa. These kinds of structures allow for both failure and learning together.

Working groups and representation

We as a collective are very White. We want the working groups of our future works to include more diverse voices, bodies and people from different backgrounds. Our goal is also to extend the organisation’s board in a more diverse direction.

Evaluation and person responsible for equality

We will appoint a person responsible for equality, to whom members of the community and visiting employees can turn if they ever experience discriminatory or inappropriate behaviour. This person will monitor and develop the equality plan together with the equality working group. The organisation’s strategies will be evaluated and updated yearly.


W A U H A U Sin toimenpiteet yhdenvertaisen ja antirastisen toiminnan edistämiseksi

WAUHAUS on seitsemän omaäänisen taiteilijan yhteenliittymä, joka toimii laaja-alaisesti esittävien taiteiden kentällä. Tiedostamme, että meillä on toimijana mahdollisuuksia sekä myös valtaa ja vastuuta vaikuttaa niihin rakenteisiin joissa työmme tapahtuu.

WAUHAUS haluaa olla avoin, syrjinnästä vapaa ja antirasistinen toimija esittävien taiteiden kentällä. Emme hyväksy rasismia, syrjintää tai häirintää toiminnassamme tai tiloissamme. Antirasistinen työ on syrjivien rakenteiden näkyväksi tekemistä, auki puhumista, oppimista ja uusien, tasa-arvoisempien rakenteiden kehittämistä.

Yhdenvertaisuuden edistäminen ja antirasistinen työ on pitkäjänteistä työtä, joka on kaikkien vastuulla. Olemme listanneet alle tulevia toimenpiteitä asian edistämiseksi omalta osaltamme. Kiitämme Call for Action for Finnish Art Institutions -työryhmää kutsusta toimiin rakenteellisen rasismin tiedostamiseksi ja kitkemiseksi kotimaiselta taiteen kentältä. Kiitos muille jo toimenpiteitään jakaneille toimijoille esimerkistä.

TOIMENPITEET:

Yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelma

Perustamme yhdenvertaisuustyöryhmän, jonka tehtävänä on yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelman luominen WAUHAUSille. Yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelma tulee sisältämään kaikki yhteisön suunnittelemat ja toteuttamat yhdenvertaisuusperiaatteet ja toimenpiteet. Yhdenvertaisuusuunnitelman tekemiseen palkataan ulkopuolista apua ja se valmistuu kevään 2021 aikana.

Eettinen ohjeistus

Meille on tärkeää, että taiteellisten prosessien eri vaiheissa noudatetaan kaikesta syrjinnästä vapaita käytäntöjä. Luomme eettisen ohjeistuksen, jonka mukaan yhteisömme pyrkii työskentelemään. Eettinen ohjeistus kulkee mukana kaikessa toiminnassamme ja kaikkien yhteisössä toimivien (niin vakituisten jäsenten, kuin vierailevien taiteilijoiden) on sitouduttava siihen. Nämä ohjeet tullaan sisällyttämään myös osaksi WAUHAUSin työ- ja osatuotantosopimuksia. Yhteistyön toteutuminen edellyttää sitoutumista eettisen ohjeistuksen periaatteisiin.

Turvallisempien tilojen periaatteet

Haluamme että kaikki tapahtumiimme osallistuvat ihmiset voivat kokea olonsa mahdollisimman turvalliseksi. Luomme turvallisen tilan periaatteet aina kontekstisidonnaisesti, jokaiselle tilanteelle parhaiten sopivalla tavalla. Työskentelyssämme luomme huokoisia rakenteita, jotka joustavat ihmisten henkilökohtaisten tarpeiden mukaan, eikä päinvastoin. Tällaiset rakenteet sallivat myös epäonnistumisen ja sitä kautta yhdessä oppimisen.

Työryhmät ja representaatio

Olemme kollektiivina hyvin valkoinen. Haluamme että tulevaisuudessa teostemme työryhmissä toimii moninaisempia ääniä, kehoja ja erilaisista taustoista tulevia ihmisiä. Tavoitteena on myös laajentaa yhdistyksen hallituspohjaa monimuotoisemmaksi.

Yhdenvertaisuus ja arviointi

Nimitämme yhteisöstämme yhdenvertaisuusvastaavan, jonka puoleen kukin yhteisön jäsen tai vieraileva työntekijä voi kääntyä mikäli syrjivää tai epäasiallista käytöstä ilmenee. Yhdenvertaisuusvastaavan vastuulla on seurata yhdenvertaisuussuunnitelman toteutumista ja kehittämistä yhdessä yhdenvertaisuustyöryhmän kanssa. Yhdistyksen toimintaa arvioidaan ja päivitetään vuosittain yhdessä yhdenvertaisuustyöryhmän kanssa.


10.12.2020

OUR NEXT WORK “A GREAT MESS” IS PART OF HELSINKI BIENNIAL 2021

Photo: Matti Pyykkö

Photo: Matti Pyykkö

We have had a year of cooking new work! The first of our three new works: A Great Mess.

A Great Mess is a site-sensitive performance on a hilltop called Vuosaarenhuippu, a former landfill that has been converted into a recreational area. Over decades of urban development, the site has served as a dumping ground for surplus excavation material – earth, boulders, stumps, and trees – in a process during which the park has evolved into a unique ecosystem shaped through continuous human interaction.

The performance approaches the site as a historically unique multispecies meeting place. It looks at how the place came into being through the interaction of soil, countless organisms, and human imagination. A Great Mess visualizes how the vast web of interdependencies in which we exist with other species has gradually evolved and continues to evolve each day.

A Great Mess forms part of a series that the WAUHAUS collective will be working on during the upcoming years. The works will transport viewers to locations ranging from landscaped landfills and seagull-populated beaches to a silent, abandoned power plant. Their performances mark an uncompromising attempt to understand how humans fit in as part of a multispecies continuum. Their works are not narratives lamenting the destruction wreaked by modernization, but a sincere effort to fathom how we can foster new life skills in the era of eco-crisis.


6.10.2020

WAUHAUS Shortlisted for International Prize for Live Art

W A U H A U S has been shortlisted for the 2020 ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art! Congratulations to the other nominees Geumhyung Jeong, Ingri Fiksdal and Brian Fuata. Thank you @antifestival for the honour. Flashdance will be part of the Shortlist LIVE! programme on the 30th of October at 21 in Kuopio. See you there!


13.5.2020

5 BECOMES 7

We are proud to announce that W A U H A U S has two new members! We’d like to introduce scenographer Laura Haapakangas and new media artist Jani-Matti Salo!

Laura’s work is often characterized by the investigation of material hierarchies and tactilities. The scenic images of her works evoke questions of power, and that which is natural and unnatural, as well as familiar and unknown. Her work has been seen on the big stages of Finnish theatres, for example at The Finnish National Theatre and Lahti City Theatre, and on the stages of smaller theatres like Q-teatteri, Theatre Viirus, Theatre Takomo and Zodiak – Centre for New Dance.

Jani-Matti’s work is often defined by simplicity and a comprehensive idea that penetrates all layers of the performance. At the moment he is interested in illuminating structures and invoking different viewing experiences. Since 2007 Jani-Matti has worked as a designer in over 80 productions that have been presented in more than 25 countries. His work has been recognized with an award for Best Design of the Year in Finland in 2014 and 2018.

Both have been collaborating with us for many years in productions such as Flashdance and Sapiens, and now we are happy to make it official! Welcome Jani-Matti and Laura!