Elie Halonen

At the Saari Residence, I will be working together with Satu Hakamäki. We will use the technique of shibari (rope bondage) to explore forms, power relations, identities, emotions, somatics, micro-movement and bid gestures.

The residency will give us a chance to get immersed into our work similarly as children would immerse into play forgetting everything else around. I want to support this play space by taking care of my own and everyone else’s well-being. I am looking forward to meeting other artists and getting new perspectives on artistry. I also want to feel the presence of history, the inert and the flora and fauna of the surrounding.

My background in sculpture studies combines with my present practice of bodywork in the form of tying. This includes creating a safer space for exploration and self-expression where I get to manipulate the body, listen, improvise, and see how emotions turn into sculptural forms. I love how tying is a handcraft and at the same time such a palpable way of processing somatics.

I am interested in human and plant forms, ecology, ecosexuality and queer and BDSM cultures. I have graduated in 2019 and since then worked with bodies on moving images and live environments. Hauru, my latest collaborative documentary film is about three artists exploring themselves in relation to the ecosystem of a deserted island. In the film, shibari immerses the artists into an ecosexual realm where the bodies of humans, plants and algae interact.