As part of CROWD 2022, I took part in residencies by Taikabox in Varjakka and Dance Limerick in Limerick with my dear artist pair Rita Marcalo. For me, these two residencies together formed a view on community engagement that has specific ties to locality and place. I think one of the nicest things in thisContinue reading “The river is larger than its waterway“
Category Archives: Finland
Banana on Air
Welcome to have laughs, smiles and move around to this recording of the SPIRAL SCRATCH radio show (if you missed it live for some reason) with a bunch of CROWDdance / Warjakka Art Residency artists Rita Marcalo, Silja Saga Maria Tuovinen, Julian Owusu and Tanja Råman chatting about community-based art making, artists’ residencies and Oulu’sContinue reading “Banana on Air”
Culture Never Gets Old
We were having a community-based event in Varjakka bay with the gorgeous artists and nice looking plan of multimedia jamming, and then experienced a surprising encounter. The same time we planned to jam and dance around Kalamaja Art Hub ran by TaikaBox, a big bunch of local pensioners came to the same space and startedContinue reading “Culture Never Gets Old”
Making Impossible Possible
The residency artists Silja Tuovinen and Rita Marcalo brought a lot of smiles, giggles, reflections and playful choreography today in Varjakka by holding a community dance workshop for an amazing community of people of different ages, genders, beliefs and backgrounds, all united by being open to creative explorations. After Silja encouraged everybody to relax byContinue reading “Making Impossible Possible”
Translating into Dance
The last Monday of #CROWDdance Finnish residency in Varjakka, Oulu, Northern Finland, was marked by translating art forms and multilingual communication into the language of dance. Rita, Silja, Julian and Tanja, for example, were creating a dance out of an image created by the young guest of Kalamaja Art Hub within Warjakka Art Residency toContinue reading “Translating into Dance”
Varjakka FM
The week one of the CROWD’s dance art residency network in Warjakka Art Residence in the beautiful forests, gardens and beaches of Varjakka in Northern Finland was full of listening gently, asking bravely and tuning in to the legends and stories of this ghostly space. Some places of Varjakka area were revisited, some visited forContinue reading “Varjakka FM”
Warjakka: art in the woods and the sands
Rita Marcalo and Silja Tuovinen have arrived in Varjakka, where TaikaBox is very lucky to be hosting Warjakka Art Residency, kickstarting the CROWD international dance exchange programme for 2022. Backed by TaikaBox’s Summer worker Niko Auvinen and the residency mentor – dance artist Julian Owusu – TaikaBox cofounders Tanja Råman and John Collingswood guided SiljaContinue reading “Warjakka: art in the woods and the sands”
Video from Varjakka
Hauntology and feminism during the residency
What has continued to resonate and remain central to my accounts of the residency in Varjakka is the proposition of there being ghosts present. I am not a believer in phantoms in their literal sense but loved the idea of ‘channeling’ the women who’d lost their lives doing dangerous work at the saw mill onContinue reading “Hauntology and feminism during the residency”
Kiitos viisaat paikalliset naiset
We had been together (the artists, Hanna, Pontus and I, and the hosts Taikabox and Julian) in Varjakka for a few days when the suggestion arose of working with a small local group. Taikabox have a growing relationship with some people from Oulu who do outdoor and creative activities together in order to tackle feelingsContinue reading “Kiitos viisaat paikalliset naiset”
CROWD 