Tiia Kasurinen

Tiia Kasurinen is a dancer, choreographer and artist who works between Helsinki and Stockholm. In her work, she explores the themes of identity, gender, power and pop culture, often through make-up and visual transformation. YouTube tutorials and somatic movement go hand in hand in her performances, creating identifiable aesthetics. When Tiia is not working on her own projects, she works as a dancer, performer and collabator for and with other artists.  

“At the Saari Residence, I will be exploring the encounter of make-up and movement. I’m interested in the bodily experience resulting from the direct or long-term effects of transformation. I’m particularly fascinated with changes in the quality of movement, but I also study the themes of gender, power and taking space in my practice.  

“The residence will allow me to engage in one of my long-term dreams and goals: to spend a large amount of time in bodily experiences inspired by make-up. When inhabiting a new body born out of make-up, it often takes hours for its potential to be revealed. This gives me the opportunity to exist, eat, interact, write, move and dance in a changed and moulded bodily entity – and consequently to explore the impulses for movement inspired by the transformation.  

“I will be carrying out new artistic research and working on the bodily experiences of two of my previous works: the drag queen character Vulva T from the performance Vulcano (2017) and the character Harmony from the work The Life of Harmony (2018), which drew its inspiration from objects and robots that look like women. I will also begin the process of creating a new solo.  

“Make-up and visual transformation are indirect ways for me to examine my position in society. Transformations unsettle my perception of my own power, identity and humanity.”  

Read more and follow Kasurinen during her residency: HTTPS://TIIAKASURINEN.WORDPRESS.COM  

Instagram: @tiiagasolina