Miradonna Sirkka (& Aleksi Kinnunen, Alpi Vaalaja): Nonstop Paradise
PLACE: The Nook, Turku City Theatre, Itäinen Rantakatu 14
DATE & TIME: Wed 3.9. at 20:00–21:00 and Fri 5.9. at 18:30–19:30
DURATION: 1 h, Please arrive 15 minutes before the performance. Advance registration required.
Reserve your seat for the performance by emailing myynti@tkteatteri.fi or directly at the Turku City Theatre box office. Tickets cannot be redeemed from the theatre's retailers.
The performance is intended for adult audiences and includes tattooing and ordinary nudity.
LANGUAGE: English
Information about accecibility here
Nonstop Paradise is a multidisciplinary artwork consisting of a performance and a video exhibition. The exhibition is on view from 3.-7.9. in the basement of Art House Turku and is open Wed–Fri 12–18 and Sat–Sun 12–16.
Nonstop Paradise performance
The Western idea of paradise has been built on the backs of other people, animals, and the entire planet, and there’s no end in sight. But what kind of happiness, which kind of sacrifices are we really dreaming of when we dream of paradise?
This performance is a hedonistic celebration that destroys everything, just like the lifestyle of the 2020s. In a messy unfolding of a circus-erotic performance, it exposes the individual’s tendency towards pleasure, daydreaming, and perfectionism through the lens of media art and contemporary circus. It reflects on the way the euro-patriarchy has shaped our mind, demolished sensuality, and it shakes off the neoliberal storytelling of success and easy-bought, short-term satisfaction. In the work beauty floats upside down and turns into something haunting. The most touching connection is the recognition of the ugliness of the other and of the self.
Performer: Miradonna Sirkka
Sound design: Aleksi Kinnunen
Light and space design: Alpi Vaalaja
Dramaturgical support: Bek Berger
Thank you: Sofi Häkkinen, Inna Huttunen, Hedda Liukkala, Maiju Saarimaa, Susanna Liinamaa, Samuli Kivelä, Iida-Liina Linnea, Milla Kurronen, Oona Jama, Olli Majalahti, Reijo Sirkka, Kulixen koti
Nonstop Paradise exhibition
Three videoworks with a sound loop in the exhibition: Open Call for a Kiss, Living like there is No Tomorrow and Minun Ystäväni, My friends, Mina Vänner. The videoworks are part of Nonstop Paradise performance.
We got everything
While we did nothing
We only waited
And the eternity arrived
That’s not enough
Today the sky is empty, and I feel nothing
Today the sky is empty, and I can do nothing
Nonstop Paradise relentlessly strives towards paradise, gradually examining and deconstructing the image of paradise. Initially, paradise appears to be a naively idyllic, sugary safe haven but upon closer investigation, it reveals the unsustainability of the Western way of life. Beneath the hedonistic escapism lies a deep, scary need for human connection.
<3 The ideas are extremely romantic and therefore doomed <3
Working group of the exhibition: Miradonna Sirkka, Kissing video filming Iida-Liina Linnea, sound design Aleksi Kinnunen
The work has been produced in cooperation with STUDIO ALTA and MeetFactory in Prague, and the artists have been workin in their recidencys.
Miradonna Sirkka (she/her) is a contemporary circus and performance artist, director and performer. Her works are multidisciplinary blends of performance art, installation, video, sound and media art. Among her recurrent themes are pleasure, joy, emotions that are too big to handle, disgusting secret thoughts, human contact, and everyday awkwardness. Plasticity, pine forest, femmeness and grittiness all feature in the works.
Miradonna graduated as a circus artist from Turku University of Applied Sciences and has a MA from Aalto University in Visual Culture and Curating Contemporary Art. She is the founder and co-Artistic Director of Recover Laboratory, a multi-disciplinary group whose works have been presented in Finland and internationally. Nonstop Paradise’s core team includes absolutely amazing, skilled, fabulous artists Aleksi Kinnunen (sound designer) and Alpi Vaalaja (light and space designer) <3