Lehmus Murtomaa, Katriina Kettunen, Diana Soria Hernandez & Olga Spyropoulou
photo credit: Olga Spyropoulou
Photo credit: Katriina Kettunen & Olga Spyropoulou
We're like one place
Online bedtime story service
Durational, one-on-one performance in collaboration with Katriina Kettunen
May 2020 & April & November/December 2021
https://www.catalysti.fi/?event=were-like-one-place-online-bedtime-story-service
We’re like one place is an online bedtime story service created by artists Katriina Kettunen and Olga Spyropoulou. This one-on-one performance offers a soothing experience of bedtime reading and the chance to be in the company of another person without feeling any stress to hold a conversation.
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Each audience member selects the time and the book that best suits them. At the assigned time, each participant receives a video call from the performer who reads them a chapter from the book aloud. The duration of the call is about 30 minutes.
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We’re like one place explores how intimacy and presence transform and manifest through new media. The performance delves into the loneliness that derives from not being able to share a physical space with another. As over a third of Finnish homes are single-person households, the performance offers the virtual space as a meeting point.
The first iteration of the performance took place on the 21st, 28th and 29th of May 2020 during the Uniarts’ Feel Helsinki festival, and a state of emergency imposed by the Finnish government due to COVID-19.
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The second iteration took place on April 2-5, 2021, with two additional performers: Diana Soria Hernandez and Lehmus Murtomaa. The second iteration of the performance was realized in collaboration with Catalysti ry and Uniarts Helsinki, with support from the City of Helsinki and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
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The third iteration of We’re like one place was performed on November 25th and December 4th by Katriina Kettunen and Olga Spyropoulou. The performance was featured in the exhibition "The Posture of Impermanence", a collaboration between Artsi - Vantaan Taidemuseo and Uniarts Helsinki.
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