Virpi Pahkinen (SWE) Ophir Chasma

Programme

Are there people on Mars? Choreographer Virpi Pahkinen, for his part, answers the ancient question in the affirmative, fantasising about a place on the planet with the poetic name Ophir Chasma. For Pahkinen, the stratosphere is distinctly Eastern, populated by Indian goddesses with red-painted faces and mudras gestures, assisted by aliens with animal-like plasticity.

In her new hour-long work, Virpi Pahkinen ventures into new, dizzying territory, unabashedly playing with earthly creatures' notions of space adventure, coloured by Space Movies. At the same time, she affirms humanity's longing wonder at the mysteries of infinity.