Programme: Monuments Summer 2025
Monuments is a programme of events curated by the Social Choreography Lab Helsinki for Pixelache Festival 2025. The programme invites audiences to reflect on the idea of monuments in public space in the city of Helsinki: not as static symbols of power or permanence, but as living, contested spaces where memory, identity, and imagination intersect. What does it mean to build, dismantle, or reimagine a monument today? The programme unfolds across various public monuments and urban sites throughout June, July, and August 2025.
Invited artists Antonia Atarah, Elias Berglund, Jonna Karanka and Vega Adsten explore these questions through guided walks, workshops and performances at selected monuments and public spaces across the city.
Some of the locations include: the Johan Ludvig Runeberg's Memorial in Esplanadi, Nyrkkeilijät / The Boxers statue in Paasivuoren puistikko next to Hakaniemi market square, the Taivaskallio WWII military site, Evakkoäiti muistomerkki / Evacuee Mother in Karjalatalo, as well as the protected heritage kiosk Käpylän Kiska in Meurman park. The artist-led programme is completed by Social Choreography Lab's yearly Summer Fest: a community day-celebration with mini-workshops, music, open grill, piñata, and art for the whole family. The Summer Fest takes place in July at Käpylä's Meurmanin puisto, in collaboration with the amazing crew from Käpylän Kiska.
Please note: Pre-registration is encouraged for performances by Elias Bergelund, Antonia Atarah and Vega Adsten. To register and secure your spot, please email: socialchoreography.helsinki@
ALL EVENTS ARE FREE OF CHARGE
For detailed project descriptions, dates, and artist bios, please visit the Pixelache website.
PROGRAMME
BARD (Body As Receptive Divinity) – performance by Elias Berglund
12 July, Saturday, 17:00
Johan Ludvig Runeberg's Memorial, Esplanadi
Swedish / English / Finnish
Elias Berglund’s dance performance takes place at the monument of Runeberg, regarded as Finland’s national bard. Using the sensitive, social, and expressive dancing body as a departure point, the piece navigates through tensions caused by societal hierarchies and rigid bodily etiquette in Finnish culture. It asks us to consider: What if we valued the wisdom of the body as highly as the wisdom of the pen?
After the performance, we will have a picnic and discussion with the artist in the Esplanadi park. Some snacks and beverages will be provided.
Elias Berglund
Elias Berglund is a dancer and artist based in Helsinki. His practice explores the emotional, empowering, awkward, and wild experiences of inhabiting a body. He has worked with choreographers including Elina Pirinen, Kadence Neill, Carina Ahlskog, Maria Saivosalmi, and Alpo Aaltokoski, and is active in the platform rAws!. Elias holds space for cabaret, music videos, and musicals alongside his contemporary dance work. He loves jazz, wigs, shared dreaming, crochet, reality TV, and dancing really hard.
Pre-register by sending an e-mail to socialchoreography.helsinki@
photo: Jacob Nordgren
Summer Fest
26 July, Saturday, 13:00–18:00
Meurman park / Käpylän Kiska
Join us to greet summer and support free grassroots spaces with the community of the Social Choreography Lab Helsinki.
The Summer Fest is free and open to everyone, people who have been part of the Lab in the past years, and all our friends, so don't hesitate to bring your friends, colleagues and families
There will be mini-workshops, music and food, finishing off with a piñata. There will also be an opportunity to grill throughout the day. We will bring some non-alcoholic drinks, finger-food and a few things for the grill to share (vegan and non-vegan), but you are also invited to grill your own food. Käpylän Kiska will sell their selection of drinks, snacks and ice-cream throughout the day.
The yearly Summer Fest is an occasion to meet other people interested in the Lab, celebrating the power of community and reclaiming public space through grassroots creativity. The festival takes place at Meurmanin Puisto in Käpylä, in collaboration with the amazing crew from Käpylän Kiska.
PROGRAM
13:00 Grill is warm
14:00 Workshop: Stick'n'poke tattoos with Emma Hovi (+18)
15:00 Workshop: Facemasks with artists Jordy Valderrama & Clara Petrozzi (all ages)
16:00 Workshop: Anti-racist workshop with Armando Pereira (teens and adults)
17:00 Workshop: Introduction to juggling with special international guest (all ages)
17:30 Breaking the piñata together! (all ages)
18:00 Celebration finishes, but everyone is invited to stay and enjoy the evening at Käpylän Kiska
Tervetuloa / Välkomna / Welcome
Radical Imagination Workshop by Antonia Atarah
26 July, Saturday, 15:00 – 17:30
Start and finish at Meurman park / Käpylän Kiska
Swedish / English / Finnish
This workshop explores rewriting history and imagination as radical practice. Through a guided walk in Käpylä, participants will visit local monuments such as Taivaskallio and the Evacuee Mother sculpture, using these sites as inspiration to create new work.
A movement-based warm-up will start the session. Please wear comfortable clothes and bring water. The workshop is open to all—no previous experience required. Suitable for those interested in performing arts, visual arts, creative writing, or movement.
After the tour, we will have a picnic and discussion with the artist in Meurman park. Some snacks and beverages will be provided.
Antonia Atarah
Antonia Atarah is a Ghanaian-Finnish actor with a Master’s in Acting from the Theatre Academy, with further studies in musical theatre and drama pedagogy. She has collaborated with artists including Sonya Lindfors, Elina Pirinen, Essi Rossi, and Sara Melleri. Antonia believes in collective practice and expanding the boundaries of performance.
Pre-register by sending an e-mail to socialchoreography.helsinki@
photo: Emma Reijonen
Live Soundtrack Performance by Jonna Karanka (Kuupuu)
15 August, Friday, 21:00
Meurman park / Käpylän Kiska
Kuupuu presents a new live score around the theme of Monuments in Helsinki, pairing archival film footage with lullaby drones and textured soundscapes. This atmospheric performance combines moving image, voice, text, and electronic music, inviting audiences to reimagine the stories embedded in place.
Jonna Karanka
Jonna Karanka is a Finnish multidisciplinary artist and musician renowned for her experimental soundscapes and tactile visual art. Working under the moniker Kuupuu, she crafts lo-fi, dreamlike music that blends improvisation, loops and electroacoustic textures. At the moment she’s working on a hypnotic “Draamakuu” duo debut album with Draama-Helmi and playing with her mini-rock trio Olimpia Splendid whenever possible.
photo: Lauri Kurki
Nyrkkeilijät (The Boxers) – Workshop/performance by Vega Adsten
16 August, Saturday, 14:00 – 18:00 (join at any time / leave when you need)
Paasivuoren puistikko, Siltasaari/Hakaniemi
Swedish / English
Vega Adsten’s participatory performance/workshop takes place at The Boxers statue in Paasivuoren puistikko, off the Hakaniemi square. This site has been intentionally chosen for its depiction of a violent encounter between two male-coded bodies, an image that resonates deeply in a world increasingly marked by tension, polarization, and aggression.
Over the course of four hours, participants are invited to come and go freely, engaging in dialogue and collaborative creation with Vega and fellow visitors. The workshop opens space for conversations around violence, its many forms, its roots, and how we might imagine alternative ways of being. What might it mean to redefine history, to challenge dominant narratives, or to reframe violence through collective reimagination?
The event culminates in a site-specific performance around the statue, where Vega responds directly to the day's process and the charged symbolism of the monument. Blending performance, conversation, and public intervention, Nyrkkeilijät is a living exploration of how we confront the past in order to transform the present.
After the performance, we will have a picnic and discussion with the artist. Some snacks and beverages will be provided.
Vega Adsten
Vega Adsten is a Swedish actress, trans activist, and performance artist based in Helsinki, currently studying acting at Uniarts Helsinki. Her work navigates creative accessibility, intersectionality, and collaborative storytelling across forms and languages. She has worked in Stockholm’s independent theatre scene and is deeply engaged in social change through art.
Pre-register by sending an e-mail to socialchoreography.helsinki@
photo: Jacob Nordgren
Organizers
This programme is organized by Pixelache Festival (Piknik Frequency Ry)
All events are free of charge.
Pixelache (Piknik Frequency Ry) is a cultural association of artists, cultural producers, thinkers, and activists based in Helsinki and connected to an international network. Since 2002, Pixelache has fostered emerging cultural practices at the intersection of art, technology, and society.
For more information, visit the Pixelache website or contact:
socialchoreography.helsinki@