LIVING UTOPIA
OTHER SPACES 20 YEARS
Olives and Stones, Photo Mika Elo
LIVING UTOPIA – EVENTS IN AUTUMN 2024
Living Utopia is a series of 20 anniverary events in which the Other Spaces presents and teaches the public its exercises more comprehensively than ever before. There will be exhibition, performance event, workshops and networking meetings.
LIVING UTOPIA EXHIBITION
11.9.-20.10.
Theatre Museum, Kaapelitehdas, Kaapeliaukio 3, G-floor, Helsinki
In honor of the anniversary, an exhibition presenting the 20-year activities of the Other Spaces collective will be shown at the Theater Museum. In the exhibition, visitors can take a peek into the history of the Other Spaces collective and get to know the collective’s artistic practice in detail.
ENSTRANCE FEES
The exhibition can be accessed with Theatre Museum admission tickets (16/8/6€) and Museum Card.
NETWORKING MEETING
The International Forum of Eco-Embodied Arts at Eskus
Mon 28.10. at 17-19
Performing Arts Centre – Eskus, Kaasutehtaankatu 1/33, rakennus nro 6, 2. krs, Puhdistamo, Suvilahti, Helsinki
Raffaele Rufo, founding member of the International Forum of Eco-Embodied Arts [IFEEA], will visit Eskus.
Established in 2023, this virtual network brings together eco-embodied arts practitioners and expertise from different continents with the aim of organizing events, residencies and workshops in different local contexts. The network will bring together actors and expertise across geographical and cultural boundaries, disseminate information on events, training and funding opportunities,
and promote embodied practices committed to ecological goals.
The event is organised by Eskus in collaboration with the Other Spaces group.
An Ecosomatic Workshop on ‘Passages’
Tue 29.10. at 10-13
Performing Arts Centre – Eskus, Kaasutehtaankatu 1/33, rakennus nro 6, 2. krs, Puhdistamo, Suvilahti, Helsinki
Raffaele Rufo (PhD), a researcher of dance and somatic movement, will hold a workshop open to all on Tuesday 29 October from 10-13.00. Teaching language will be English. The workshop is free of charge.
Reclaiming the Metamorphic Imagination: An Ecosomatic Workshop on ‘Passages’
Description: In this outdoor/indoor workshop we engage with various techniques of ecosomatic improvisation to explore the relation between place and passage and the creation of ‘gateways’ between matter and movement. In the process of remembering a more-than-human reciprocity, these durational and multisensory entanglements extend the ritualisation of time and space to the contemplation of ecological disaster and the prospects for repair.
The event is organised by Eskus in collaboration with the Other Spaces group.
LIVING UTOPIA – OTHER SPACES 20 YEARS
The pioneering Finnish Live Arts Collective Other Spaces is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Other spaces started operating within Nälkäteatteri in 2004. Over the years, Other Spaces has developed into one of the most significant and international performing arts groups in Finland, with its own unique aesthetics and artistic practice.
Over the years, Other Spaces has developed more than 200 physical and collective exercises. A common theme of the exercises is transformation and familiarization with forms of being and experiencing that are foreign to humans. The group has presented and taught these exercises at various events and workshops. Based on the exercises, the group prepares thematic performances, such as Reindeer Safari, Humanoid Hypothesis, Great Barrier Reef and Enlightenment Machine, which have been presented at numerous festivals and production houses both in Finland and abroad.
Living Utopia is a series of events in which the Other Spaces presents and teaches the public its exercises more comprehensively than ever before. The anniversary year is realized in cooperation with the Theatre Museum, the Performing Arts Center and the Helsinki Student Theatre, and the events of the year are supported by the The Finnish Cultural Foundation, the City of Helsinki and the Arts Promotion Center.
PAST ANNIVERSARY EVENTS
LIVING UTOPIA -PRE-PARTY
Thursday 15.8. at 18-21
Hesperianpuisto, Mannerheimintie 40, Helsinki
Other Spaces presents and teaches the public its transformational exercises in Night of the Arts at Hesperianpuisto! You can follow the exercises from your preferred distance and for as long as you like. You choose if you want or are able to take part. Instructions will be given in Finnish, but they can also be interpreted into English if necessary.
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BIRTHSAUNA
Saturday 25.5.2024 at 1pm – 3pm
Helsinki Student Theatre’s Studio, Aleksanterinkatu 23
FREE ENTRANCE
Other Spaces 20th anniversary year starts on Saturday 25.5. with the exercise demonstration BIRTHSAUNA in the studio of the Helsinki Student Theatre (Ylioppilasteatteri).
The event returns to the moment of the collective’s birth: it consists of a series of exercises that the group performed in its very first demonstration in the same studio on April 24, 2004. Many of the exercises presented at that time, such as “Message from Outer Space”, “Human Mountain, “Snails”, “Animal Track” or “Yoga Park”, are still part of the group’s regular repertoire. In addition to the exercises, Birthsauna includes an overview of the group’s history, video recordings of the original sessions, and the opportunity to ask the group members questions.
How has the group’s practice changed over the years? How has it changed the way its participants, both group members and the public, look at life and the environment? Where to go from here?
UTOPIAN ORGANISM
Saturday 14. and Sunday 15.9. at 11-18
Theatre Museum, Kaapelitehdas, Kaapeliaukio 3, G-floor, Helsinki
The performance event Utopian Organism is an continuous series of exercises in which ten artists of the Other Spaces group perform a total of 40 exercises developed by the group over a period of 20 years. The series of exercises creates a utopian space and a collective entity, where the starting point of being is an experiential connection with the non-human world. The event manifests an aspiration towards an alternative planetary future, which, however, is experientially attainable already today.
The performance event lasts 7 hours per day. The audience is welcome to follow the performance for as long as they please.The performance will be recorded, the audience is not filmed.
During the performance event audience is welcome to explore other exhibitions in The Theatre Museum, such as Other Space’s own Living Utopia -exhibition.
ENTRANCE FEES
A limited number of EUR 0 and EUR 6 tickets can be redeemed for the Utopian Organism -event from the Theatre Museum’s online store. In addition, the event can be accessed with the normal Theater Museum ticket prices (16/8/6€) and with the Museum Card.
LIVING UTOPIA ANNIVERSARY WORKSHOP
Saturday 21.9.
Whole day workshop at 10-17.30
Morning workshop 10-13.15
Evening workshop 14.15-17.30
The Performing Arts Center, Kaasutehtaankatu 1/33, building nro 6, 2. floor, Puhdistamo, Suvilahti, Helsinki
In the Anniversary Workshops, a comprehensive selection of Other Space’s exercises are carried out, where the participants’ bodies imagine together. The exercises are easy and enjoyable and they free the participant at least momentarily from the person’s character and identity. Previous experience in group work is not required. There will be a number of metamorphoses related to animal, plant and rock formations, not forgetting meteorological and cosmological phenomena!
The workshops include three different entities, one of which the participant can choose to participate in: full day, morning and afternoon. See below for more detailed information on the duration and prices. The participants will receive more detailed instructions about the equipment and the day’s program later by email.
The language of the workshops is Finnish.
TICKETS
Full day at 10-17.30 (7h 30min): 35 / 28 €
Morning at 10-13.15 (3h 15min): 25 / 18 €
Evening at 14.15–17.30 (3h 15min): 25 / 18 €
There is snacks and soup for the Full day -workshop participants.
Maximum participants per entity is 15 persons.
The lower price is for unemployed, pensioner, student and those who work in theatre and performing arts field
Service fee in websales is +1,25 € per ticket