Paul Pignon, Paola Nieto, Nathan Thomson & Melisa Yıldırım

Welcome to a unique evening of live improvised performances at Forum Box Gallery as the Helsinki Experimental Series (HES) continues with its first event of 2025.

14rd of March
19:00
Forum Box Gallery (Ruoholahdenranta 3 A Helsinki)
Free admission.

For this occasion, we will have four sets of solo performances by our main guests: Paul Pignon, Paola Nieto, Nathan Thomson, and Melisa Yıldırım. After showcasing these outstanding improvisers, the stage will be open for the “Blind dates for improvisers”: A first-time encounter among members of the audience and our main guests. Bring along your instruments, get inspired by the art works at Forumbox, and perform with the main guests!

Schedule:
18:30 Doors open
19:00 Guest Artists Performances
20:00 Blind dates for improvises

Performing artists info:

Paul Pignon is active as improviser and composer in chamber, vocal and electronic music. He participates in different projects around the world such as BOP, SoundQuartet, BONON, 2+ (with dancer Liisa Pentti), The Great Learning Orchestra, π with Virpi Pakhinen and Amit Sen. Within such projects he is working with single reeds, didgeridoo, recorders, WX5, voice and laptop. Currently Pignon is chairperson of SEAMS, board member of Fylkingen, member of FST, STIM, ISCM, VEMS, FRIM and SOF.

Paola Nieto is an ethno-contemporary dance artist and cultural manager. Her artistic practice intertwines Latin American popular culture and dance traditions into contemporary, experimental, and transcultural contexts. Under this angle, she is developing a sonic and movement proposal based on son jarocho zapateado, an Afro-indigenous dance and foot
percussion technique from Veracruz, Mexico. She is part of Jaranas del Norte, a Helsinki based son jarocho music ensemble, and Impropias Collective, that researches dance as a social phenomenon.

Nathan Riki Thomson is a double bass player, multi-instrumentalist, composer, researcher, and educator with a core focus on intercultural dialogue and collaboration with different
peoples, sonic environments, and places. Nathan is currently professor and head of Global Music studies at Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.

Melisa Yıldırım is an award-winning Anatolian Kamancha player from Istanbul. She is working with various professional artists around the world and she composes music close to traditional Anatolian music forms and is an improviser interested in hypnotic, meditative sounds. Her styles and influences range from sufi, spritual music to Anatolian folk, as well as Persian genres and contemporary world music. She is doing her master artistic research on ancient yogic deep listening techniques at the Sibelius Academy Global Music department.
Artist website https://melisayildirim.com

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HELSINKI EXPERIMENTAL SERIES 2024/2025 is a Community Engagement/Action Research/Artistic Research project, that intends to establish an interaction space for members of the different communities of improvisers based or working in Helsinki.

The HES 2024/2025 series is developed and funded in collaboration with: Forum Box Gallery, The Global Music Department of the Sibelius Academy, Interkult (Kassandra ry), and the KONE Foundation. The research, curatorial, and artistic direction component of this project is run by Sergio Castrillón.

The event poster is designed by artist Fabu Pires.

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