Carl Knif Company’s 10th year celebrations begin with a bang: besides six premieres, the Company will celebrate its past with a photo and costume exhibition, which will be seen in Dance House Helsinki in May.

“When we first began planning the Company’s 10th anniversary a few years ago, I suddenly remembered the dream I had had for a good while. For several years I’ve dreamt about an exhibition where the Company’s pictures, both performance photos and promotional material of various kinds, could be displayed for a wider audience. Together with the Company’s designers Karoliina Koiso-Kanttila, Jukka Huitila, and Janne Hast, we have created our own vivid and original visual language. This language crystallises and gains new dimensions in the images of photographer Yoshi Omori. An individual performance lives only for a short moment, as long as the performance lasts. In that sense, performances leave ephemeral traces in our minds. Photographs, on the other hand, are concrete visual traces. With their help, we are able to remind ourselves of and re-experience the performances we’ve seen, or we can encounter works that are entirely unknown to us. Yoshi’s images have become an important part of the Company’s communication and visual identity. In fact, the rehearsal period often starts with the taking of promotional photos. For me, it is a gate that leads me to the work’s world. Through the photos, I try to communicate all the knowledge I have regarding the work to both my colleagues and the audience.

The exhibition is a visual cross-section of Carl Knif Company’s history. Included are both images from various works and photographs taken for promotional purposes. Moreover, I want to shed light on our mutual journey by showing never before seen material, such as pictures taken for works that have never seen the light of day and photographs that, for some reason or other, were never published.

I want the exhibition to be such that it can be experienced whether or not you’ve seen our performances. The photographs tell their own independent history, one in which all the fine people who have contributed to the Company these last ten years are present. Our visual journey continues…”

– Carl Knif

Exhibition opening hours

Opening
Tue. 3.5 at 18.00

Wed. 4.5 at 12-18
Thu. 5.5 at 17-21
Fri. 6.5 at 17-21
Sat. 7.5 at 12-16

Besides the exhibition and the premieres, the 10th anniversary will include a publication based on interviews as well as a Best of recording with music composed by sound designer Janne Hast. The Company will also offer two free workshops for both professional and non-professional people on the arts field.

Photo: Yoshi Omori

See also

Carl Knif and Blaue Frau’s collaboration takes place on 2–5 March

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Premiere of Matka at Kuopio Dance Festival on 21st June 2022

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