Project NMN

The Project NMN workgroup is comprised of freelance artists. At the Saari Residence, we will be rehearsing and putting the finishing touches on a performance entitled [heresy].

Workgroup:

Direction, set design and production: Samuli Männistö
Lighting: Saija Nojonen
Music and sound design: Laura Vuorjoki-Elo
Costume design: Marjo Haapasalo
Prop and set construction: Toni Saikonen
Performers: Antti Nerg, Markus Nivala, Samuli Männistö, Laura Vuorjoki-Elo
Technician: Talvi Janatuinen

Samuli Männistö

Samuli Männistö is known for his distinctive, expressive and uncompromising performances that combine influences ranging from modern theatre to puppet theatre.

Laura Vuorjoki-Elo

Laura Vuorjoki-Elo is a music pedagogue and has a Master of Music degree from Sibelius Academy. She challenges herself daily in order to discover new perspectives on music and on experiencing it.

Vuorjoki-Elo has, for example, combined electronic music with ancient Finno-Ugric music and has remoulded ancient Karelian music into modern arrangements for community singing.

For Laura Vuorjoki-Elo, music stems from tradition and an understanding of tradition as well as from personal intuition and feeling. Vuorjoki-Elo teaches at Joensuu Conservatory and Karelia University of Applied Sciences, and has performed both in Finland and abroad.

Antti Nerg

Antti Nerg is a multi-talented juggler who has worked as a full-time circus artist and teacher since 2008; amongst other things, he is the juggling teacher for Turku Arts Academy’s circus programme. Both as a teacher and an artist, Nerg is interested in the tradition and trends of juggling and circus art. This is reflected in his own artistic work in his mastering of various different juggling props.

Markus Nivala

Markus Nivala is a circus artist and graduated from Turku Arts Academy in 2010. Before his time at the Arts Academy, Nivala studied theatre at Lahti Folk High School where he discovered a more comprehensive interest in performance art. At the time, he was also involved in various productions at, for example, Lahti City Theatre and student theatres in Helsinki and Oulu. After graduating from Turku Arts Academy, Markus Nivala has worked as a full-time circus artist and has also done street circus performances across Europe.

Saija Nojonen

Saija Nojonen graduated a Master of Arts from the Department of Lighting and Sound Design at the Theatre Academy of Finland in 2011, and has produced lighting and visualisations for theatre, dance, concerts, installations and poems. Her interests (in addition to folk music and making pancakes) include the feel and reflective properties of different materials. She gets excited about both the possibilities of creating boundaries with light and the boundless possibilities of light. Saija wants her work to contribute to the visual staging of performances and to visual dramaturgy.

Marjo Haapasalo

Marjo Haapasalo is a designer specializing in theatre and dance costumes. Marjo graduated from the design programme at Yrkehögskolan Sydväst in 2002, after which she has worked as a costume designer for several different productions at various theatres.

Marjo’s design may begin on paper but the actual results are dictated by the demands of the material. As a designer, she wishes to remain open and enthusiastic. In addition to excellent craftsmanship and bringing different themes to life through her own vision (particularly with theatre and dance costumes), Marjo’s work is marked by an incorporation of a mixture of styles and eras.

[heresy]

In terms of its name, [heresy] points to views and theories that conflict with established religions and beliefs.

Within this framework, [heresy] investigates what is relevant, what is controllable and what is sacred. The backdrop for this research is formed by different art theories, religious beliefs as well as other theories that seek the reason, character and basic truth behind the universe.

[heresy] includes understated physical theatre, the art of juggling, live music and the type of kind-hearted humour that stems from a questioning take on things and self-awareness. [heresy] is a dialogue between three jugglers and a folk musician, and deals with objects, enigmas and other important things.

Project NMN’s [heresy] is truly the poetry of modern circus.

[heresy] premieres on September 25th, 2013 at Cirko Center for New Circus in Helsinki.

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