Tuomas Laitinen

I am working on an artistic doctorate, which is dealing with the phenomenon of audience. What is (an) audience? Can the audience be art? What is the meaning of audiencing in the (post)pandemic era?

As my research practice, I have realized more than 20 “readings”, which are events of reading or literary performances. In these readings, the audience is reading a text, inviting them to contemplate their own situation as an audience.

In this residency I will take these experiments as my material and start to create a new composition out of them, aiming to integrate different perspectives I have taken during these years. I will write, read, re-write, place into space, rip apart, write, tape back together, then burn.

The goal is “Audience Body”, the second artistic part of my doctorate, premiering in November 2022 as part of programs of Reality Research Center and Moving in November festival. Meanwhile, it will hopefully also become the spine of the commentary of the doctorate.

Tuomas Laitinen (b. 1974) works as a director, performer, writer, curator and teacher between the fields of live and performance art, contemporary theatre and contemporary dance. Laitinen’s artistic practice is particularly focused on questioning the role of the audience, experimenting with it, and consequently developing new forms of performance. Currently, he works with a doctoral research project at Performing Arts Research Center Tutke, Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy, and is a part of the curatorial group of the Stage for Contemporary Performance at Helsinki City Theatre.