Silja Tuovinen

I am writing the script of a new choreographic film dealing, broadly speaking, with the material and meaning of air. The theoretical basis of the work is the sociopolitical and poetic research of air which I use as an inspiration for carving out the form, events, and movement logic of the film. I approach the work as an experimental film with choreographic expression, where the camera participates kinetically in telling the story.

The thematic backdrops of my artworks are the eternal questions of loss, finitude and death, as well as planetary and cosmic phenomena of massive scale such as running of time and weather conditions. As counterweight to these uncontrollable themes that emphasise change, decay and endings, I underline my process with moving images as a practice of fumbling agency; a personally necessary, comforting craft at the edge of varying endings and beyond.

I wish for the residency to offer a deeply focused atmosphere, and interesting dialogue with the other artists and researchers. I am sure the Saari Residence will be a lovely site for doing associative and non-linear work.

Silja Tuovinen is a choreographer with a practice focusing on cinematic expression. She holds an MFA in Choreography from the Stockholm University of the Arts and a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from Malmö University, specialising in the ethnography of war and human creativity under dire conditions. In her artistic work, she mixes intellect and skills from both these fields. Silja currently collaborates with the POOL Movement Art Film Festival in Berlin and is writing an investigative series of articles for them about international dance filmmakers and their methods. She also works as a teacher, dramaturg, and performer, and is currently based in her hometown Oulu.