Thursday 1 - Sunday 4 September
Multi-channel video installation.
It’s an underground cave party! Young people dance to escape the angst of world destruction, summoning the aid of the forgotten Sámi earth deities Uksáhkká, Juoksáhkká and Sáráhkká. We are losing our connection with the earth and our ancestors who rest beneath the soil. It is time for us to reconnect with the sacredness deep within the earth.
In their work Guhte gullá / Here to hear, women of different generations listen to the voices of their foremothers through dance and duodji, traditional Sámi handicrafts. The mother-daughter relationship between Outi Pieski and Birit and Katja Haarla chimes aptly with the theme of their first joint artistic collaboration. The space is filled with Tuomo Puranen’s ritual-beating electronic music and Mari Boine’s yoik, which invites us to change and pay attention to the foremothers’ message.
BIO
OUTI PIESKI (b. 1973) lives and works in Ohcejohka (Utsjoki) and Numminen, Finland, and has been exhibiting internationally for over two decades. Her works address the Sámi people’s history, indigenous rights, and their relationship with nature and mobility, sustainability and co-existences. She collaborates with environmental activists, researchers, as well as Sámi women employing traditional handicraft techniques. Her paintings and photography depict elements from landscapes and include forms, colours, references, or objects from the Sámi culture, including shawls and ládjogahpir hats. These extend to her large-scale installations, in which she invites viewers to enter, participate and come together.
BIRIT HAARLA and KATJA HAARLA (b. 2000) are Sámi dancers from Utsjoki. They graduated as professional dancers from the Ballet School of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet in 2019 and are currently studying contemporary dance and choreography at the P.A.R.T.S – Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Brussels. Birit and Katja Haarla have performed in and choreographed Marja Helander’s award-winning short film Eatnanvuloš lottit (Birds in the Earth, 2018) and Autonomiija áiggis (The Age of Autonomy), a theatre piece by Pauliina Feodoroff, Maryan Abdulkarim and S. Nousiainen staged as part of the Baltic Circle theatre festival in 2017.
Date:
Thursday 1 - Sunday 4 September 2022
Time:
Thursday 1. september
08:00 - 23:00
Friday 2. september
17:30 - 23:00
Saturday 3. september
12:00 - 23:00
Sunday 4. september
14:00 -16:00
Location:
Stormen Library, The Literature Hall/ Blacbox
Duration:
8:30 min.
Video installation runs in a loop and is displayed continuously at set times.
Age:
For all
Price:
Free
Production:
Commissioned by HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021
Directors:
Birit Haarla, Katja Haarla & Outi Pieski
Cinematographer, Editor:
Mauri Lähdesmäki
Choreography:
Birit and Katja Haarla
Performers:
Birit and Katja Haarla
Music:
Mari Boine, Tuomo Puranen
Sound Design:
Pekka Aikio
Costume Designer:
Auri Lukkarinen, Outi Pieski
Film Assistant:
Maria Duncker
Sound recording:
Svein Schultz
Commissioned by:
HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021
Producer:
Sami center for contemporary art, Karasjok
In partnership with:
Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš / Samisk senter for samtidskunst og RiddoDuottarMuseat / Samisk kunstmagasin
Photo:
Mauri Lähdesmäki