The multidisciplinary work combines video technology with live performance, transforming the Kiasma Theatre stage into an ancient oak forest. The performance invites the audience to reflect on their place within the ecosystem.
Performances at the Kiasma Theatre:
24.10.2026 at 15–16
25.10.2026 at 15–16
28.10.2026 at 18–19
30.10.2026 at 18–19
TRAILER CREDITS:
Concept: MARIA NURMELA & VESA LOIKAS
FIlm Director, Cinematography & Photography: VESA LOIKAS
Choreography: MARIA NURMELA
Sound and Music: JANE SHELDON
Performers: JONNA AALTONEN, MARIA NURMELA & GESA PIPER
Mentored by BART HM VANDEPUT
Original poems "Mein Leben ist nicht diese steile Stunde"
& "Die Liebende" by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Locations: Vaarniemi Nature Reserve in Kaarina, Manilla Culture Factory Turku and Taiteen talo Turku, Finland.
Drawing upon a merging of contemporary dance, vibrant imagery, augmented reality with 3D enhancements, and captivating soundscapes to better understand our place in the biosphere, dance artist Maria Nurmela, photographer/filmmaker Vesa Loikas and composer Jane Sheldon turn to the ancient oak grove in Vaarniemi, Kaarina, Finland. Their artistic exploration will result in an immersive multichannel installation, an aesthetic-embodied ecosystem in which nature, human biology and the layered reality of the meta-level intertwine in a networked narrative, intended to stimulate our senses and emotions – and prompt contemplation about our role in preserving biodiversity.
Reach, Entanglement Series, photograph, Vaarniemi, Kaarina, Finland, 2023. Performer: Maria Nurmela. Photographer: Vesa Loikas.
"Entanglement" emerges from embodiment, contemporary dance, visual media, and sound design, incorporating AI and AR technologies. The philosophical concepts of autopoiesis, enactivism, and phenomenology inspire us. Autopoiesis guides our research on life’s endless interconnectedness and the autonomous and self-creating nature of living systems. Phenomenology encourages us to examine our immediate, pre-reflective experiences and uncover the underlying meanings and structures that shape our perceptions and actions. Through enactivist principles, we aim to develop a richer understanding of the complexities of human experience, which then informs the construction of the immersive installation.
Our collaboration with humans and more than human entities thrives on a constant and genuine dialogue. We work with shared somatic practice to create a certain state of attunement We aim to achieve empathic co-existence to cultivate conversations with the oak forest inhabitants. We use immersive technology to deepen the dialogue between us and more than the human world. This dialogue reveals subtleties that we express through a new visual, performative meaning and form.
The final work will be a hybrid, durational and site-responsive installation with a live performance consisting of loop-shaped, multi-channel video projections of physical and virtual sculptures with immersive soundscapes.
Entanglement will provide its audience with an immersive, multi-sensory and visceral experience.
to mesh the human and more than human world and emerging technology in a cross-disciplinary and sensuous process
to invite the audience to be part of and within a sensory experience that will allow understanding of the oak forest ecosystem and humanity’s place within it.
inclusive work for all audiences, from children to seniors
the work is adaptable for various spaces, sizes, audiences
Entanglement Series, photograph, Manilla Culture Factory, Turku, Finland, 2024. Performer: Gesa Piper. Photographer: Vesa Loikas.
Entanglement Series, photograph, Vaarniemi, Kaarina, Finland, 2024. Performer: Gesa Piper. Photographer: Vesa Loikas.
Entanglement Series, photograph,Vaarniemi, Kaarina, Finland, 2023. Performer: Maria Nurmela. Photographer: Vesa Loikas.
Sonus Mycelium — Entanglement Series, multi-exposure photograph, Vaarniemi, Kaarina, Finland — Vesa Loikas 2023