Welcome to a unique evening of live improvised performances at Forum Box Gallery!
19:00
Free admission.
For this occasion, we will have two solo performances and one group performance featuring our guest artists: Elina Lajunen, Helsinki Improvisers Orchestra (HIO) and Shafeeq Alsadi. After showcasing these outstanding improvisers, the stage will be open for the “Blind dates for improvisers”.
Schedule:
18:30 Doors open.
19:00 Guest Artists Performances.
20:00 Stage open for “Blind dates for improvises”: A first-time encounter between members of the audience and our featured artists. Bring your instruments, draw inspiration from Forum Box’s artworks, and perform alongside our guest artists!
Performing artists info:
ELINA LAJUNEN is a puppeteer, performer, director and writer who graduated from the Turku Art Academy Puppet Theatre Department 2004 and from École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq 2008. Lajunen has directed numerous works combining puppetry and live music, including Lady Macbeth in 2017, Seitsemän miestä in 2013 and Mytty-iltamat in 2018. In spring 2023, she directed the exhibition and the children’s puppet performance Ystävä Joella which is based on the book of Reetta Niemelä and Karoliina Pertamo. It premiered in Oulu in April 2023 and is now touring Finland. In May 2024 Lajunen’s solo performance Innerbeing got premier. It was choreographed and directed by choreographer Elina Wuethrich. In 2023, Elina founded a new puppet festival in Jyväskylä, the Seminaarinmäki Puppet Festival, which is now in its second year. Lajunen also chairs the board of the puppet theatre network Aura of Puppets, occasionally makes hats, plays the violin and dances Argentinian tango. In autumn 2024, she will start her master’s studies in theatre arts at Tampere University.
HELSINKI IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA is an artist collective dedicated to performing free and conducted improvisation as well as other experimental music. The collective is open, with a changing line-up, and its pursuit is to investigate the diversity of artistic expression via musical improvisation. Helsinki Improvisers Orchestra performs in Helsinki once a month – generally in the last friday of the month – in a changing venue.
SHAFEEQ ALSADI is a Palestinian qanun player and singer, born in Jerusalem and raised in Bethlehem in 1990. He began studying the qanun at 13, which has become a key part of his identity. Combining free improvisation with Arabic and world music influences, Shafeeq explores different cultures and connects with people worldwide.
The research, curatorial, and artistic direction component of this project is run by Sergio Castrillón.