Veli Lehtovaara and workgroup

Dance artist Veli Lehtovaara and the working group he has assembled have spent their residency completing their work called Ikimetsä | Clearcut.

Kuva: Samppa Erkkilä - Jyväskylän Kesä 2021

Dance artist Veli Lehtovaara and the working group he has assembled have spent their residency completing their work called Ikimetsä | Clearcut. The dancers in the work are: Elias Giród, Anni Koskinen, Sofia Simola, Erik Eriksson (SE), Inga Huld Hákonardóttir (IS) and Kevin Fay (US). Their three-year-long artistic process culminated in performances at the Jyväskylän Kesä Festival 2021, following their residency at Saari.

Ikimetsä | Clearcut is a multi-arts performance that combines dance, sound, textile and visual art. The work examines the nature of time and the biodiversity of nature in the old-growth forests of Kainuu. This international group of artists has worked in the primeval forests of Siikavaara and Paljakanvaara between 2019–2021. Riitta Nykänen, an environmental educator living at the foot of the tree-covered hills of Siikavaara, has acted as the group’s guide. This work of art intertwines research, traditional knowledge and experimental contemporary art. In it, facts are combined with storytelling and bodily experiences. The guiding principle is that the forest is always present within us.

With this work, the group aims to arouse the audience’s curiosity and provide them with the opportunity to reflect on the multi-layered nature of time and the importance of biodiversity both as a value in itself and as a prerequisite for human culture. One of their goals is to highlight how the life and temporality of urban centres and a forest in its natural state differ from each other. The final performance takes place in an urban space – in an environment defined by the rhythm of human activity and different forms of architecture. The choreography arrives in the city like a foreign organism. It suggests an utterly different kind of passage of time and bodily existence. 

During the performance, members of the audience can use their own mobile devices and earphones to listen to an audio piece created by Jani Hietanen which is based on the field recordings of the group’s expeditions. The sound design transports the audience into a forest in the middle of the shopping centre. The live broadcast, which the audience listens to online, also offers the opportunity to participate for those who cannot get to the venue in person but who long to make a sound journey to the intersection of a primeval forest and modern dance.

The idea behind the costumes designed and made by Piia Rinne is the recycling and layering of costumes from previous art pieces and unused clothes in a collage-like manner.  The work is enriched by the visual art created during the process by artist Joma Richter. It sharpens the perception and the experience at the interface of the body and the environment and the dance and image.

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Choreography: Veli Lehtovaara in collaboration with the performers
Dance: Elias Giród, Anni Koskinen, Sofia Simola, Erik Eriksson (SE), Inga Huld Hákonardóttir (IS) and Kevin Fay (US)
Sound design: Jani Hietanen
Costume design: Piia Rinne
Environmental educator: Riitta Nykänen
Artist: Joma Richter
Photographs: Veli Lehtovaara, Piia Rinne, Joma Richter, Samppa Erkkilä
Jyväskylän Kesä 2021
Production: SpaceTimeLove | Veli Lehtovaara in collaboration with Arts Management Helsinki and Routa Company (Kajaani)
Funders: Finnish Cultural Foundation, Art Promotion Centre Finland, the Arts Council of Uusimaa, Kone Foundation
Residences: Shawbrook (IE), Mustarinda (Hyrynsalmi, FI), Routa (Kajaani, FI), Saari Residence (Mietoinen, FI)