RAS - Sonja Jokiniemi: ÖH

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

ÖH is made from everyday objects, large wooden structures, handwoven rugs, and textiles. It's a place where colors tell stories and textures converse. The performance constructs and deconstructs everyday landscapes into everyday poetry. Friction points, dreams, dissection, and care play crucial roles in the idea that creation cannot be separated from destruction.

Sonja Jokiniemi seeks a space between humans and non-human beings where the naive, intimate, surreal, and unknown touch each other. ÖH is a place of beauty that stands alongside mainstream aesthetics, while the work becomes a powerful metaphor for resistance and escape from limiting categorization.

Jokiniemi's work focuses on possibilities beyond spoken language. Thus, drawings, symbols, signs, gestures, and tactile materials play an important role in her artistry.

ÖH invites the audience into a web of meaning and connection as it stumbles into the associative.

Contributors: Concept and choreography: Sonja Jokiniemi Performers: Sonja Jokiniemi, Leila Kourkia, Marlon Moilanen, Herman Nyby, Maria Saivosalmi, Tuuli Vahtola Visual design: Heikki Paasonen and Sonja Jokiniemi Sound design: Gil Schneider Implementation of Rya rugs: Aino Ojala, based on drawings by Sonja Jokiniemi Producer (premiere): Riikka Thitz

Photos: Katri Naukkarinen Video teaser: Mariangela Pluchino Tour technicians: Mikko Orpana

Co-production: Zodiak (Helsinki, FI), Moving in November festival (Helsinki, FI), STUK – A House for Dance, Image and Sound (Leuven, BE) as part of Life Long Burning – Towards a sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe project (2018-2022) supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, The Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Foundation.