Epidermis – The Fragile Skin of the Earth

Photo: Pietari Purovaara

 

EPIDERMIS – THE FRAGILE SKIN OF THE EARTH

Epidermis – The Fragile Skin of the Earth is a contemporary dance work that centres on Earth’s current condition and future. This poetic work juxtaposes the skin of living beings and the earth’s skin – its layers of soil – as intimate and shared, and leads its audience to something we may be losing.

The work explores ways in which to go beyond the surface, under each other’s skin, and to create something that is both intensive and empirical, personal and common. This common shared space, in which the fragile skin of living creatures metaphorically meets the incredibly vast skin of the earth, creates a fictive environment divided into four parts:

The locus of corpus and circulation.
The locus of repetition and destruction.
The locus of reason and definition.
The locus of chaos and dying.

Performances:
Fri 28 Oct. 7pm (premiere)
Sun 30 Oct. 5pm
Tue 1 Nov. 7pm
Wed 2 Nov. 7pm
Sat 5 Nov. 5pm
Sun 6 Nov. 5pm

Location: Pannu Hall, Dance House Helsinki, Kaapeliaukio 3, 00180 Helsinki

Language: English
Age recommendation: 7+

Working group:
Script, direction, choreography, space & costumes: Sanna Kekäläinen
Performers & collaboration: Annette Arlander, Sanna Kekäläinen, Leila Kourkia, Janne Marja-aho, Lara Müller, Seela Sella, Eero Vesterinen
Text: Kari Hukkila
Sound design: Jaakko Kulomaa
Light design: Lauri Sirén
Photography: Pietari Purovaara

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THE FRAGILE SKIN OF THE EARTH – the life of the work is born by intertwining two different substances: the very intimate, private and fragile skin of living creatures and the very open, incredible vast and commonly shared skin of the earth, the layers of soil.

Although the subject of the work rises directly from climate change, mass extinction and the loss of biodiversity, representing it in the informative way felt not so rigorous rather than representing it in a poetical and empirical way.

First step to envisage the metaphor of the work was to understand it as a space in which performers and audience encounter each other. A shared space in which the very intimate and on the other hand the very common encounter in a very intensive way.

The common shared space, in which the private skin and the skin of the earth metaphorically encounter, creates a fictive environment, which I divided into four parts. These parts are:

The locus of corpus and circulation.

The locus of repetition and destruction.

The locus of reason and definition.

The locus of chaos and dying.

 

– Sanna Kekäläinen

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VIDEO EXCERPT EPIDERMIS – THE FRAGILE SKIN OF THE EARTH (2022)

 
VIDEOTRAILER

Video: Christopher L. Thomas

 

PRESS PHOTOS

Photos: Pietari Purovaara

 

TEXT

Kari Hukkila: It’s late (pdf)

 

REVIEWS

“The topic is the passage of time and the traces it leaves on the thin surfaces of our faces, but at the same time, the chain of meanings that creates itself in the space takes our focus to the surface layers of the suffocating earth; to touch, fiddle and squeeze the fragile skin of the earth. Have we already lost it all?

Can art influence the future of the earth? People tend to react to inequality, war, migration issues or the climate crisis only when the issue comes close enough.

Epidermis aims to juxtapose the most intimate, private body and the unimaginably vast, collectively experienced earth to share history, present, common future.”

Emma Vainio, Helsingin Sanomat 29.10.2022

“Skin brings the touch into the focus. The performers touch and explore each other’s bare skin, gently and harshly.
The whole performance is like a surreal poetic exploration to human skin, touching and intimacy.
The dramaturgy of the performance is magnificient.

Annikki Alku, Demokraatti 31.10.2022