Expanded Cinema with gReg Pope, Oona Libens, Heli HaRtiKainen & Heidi PiiRoinen
12 ApRIL-18 MAY 2025
Opening 12 April at 18:00
gREg POPE
Greg Pope (NO/UK) is an artist and filmmaker based in Oslo, Norway. After dabbling in punk rock bands and absurdist performance, he founded film collective ‘Situation Cinema’ (Brighton 1986) and ‘Loophole Cinema’ (London, 1989). Working collaboratively and individually, Pope has made video installations, live art and single-screen film works since 1996
Oona Libens
At the basis of Oona Libens' creative process is a fascination for light and shadow, which she uses in performative work or in two- or three dimensional objects/installations. Oona uses several analog projection techniques such as the magic lantern, epidiascope, slide projection, 16mm film and overhead projections. With a manual approach she visualises scientific topics, combining live image making with a more or less narrative soundscape, Her performances are a hybrid between object theatre, expanded cinema, pseudo-science and poetry.
NAUSEA is a poetic-scientific performance, a live documentary about the sea visualized by means of shadows and projections. The soundtrack is played from a reel-to-reel recorder and several analogue projectors cast extra layers on the screen.
The used lamplights throw dancing shadows on the roof and walls, making the whole space move. As an episode of an outdated documentary, an indifferent-sounding narrator guides the audience from the vibrant and glittering surface to the dark and gloomy bottom of the sea, underway informing them about the most interesting marine lifestyles. Nausea was made during an artist-in-residence at the former fishing house Kråkeslottet in northern Norway.
Heli HaRtiKainen & Heidi PiiRoinen
Heli Hartikainen is a boundary-breaking saxophonist, composer, and sound artist. One of the boldest improvisers in Finland’s experimental and ambient jazz scene, Hartikainen creates music where sonic textures, abstractions, concepts, and evolving soundscapes intertwine— their work stands as a testament to the power of artistic experimentation. As a saxophonist, Hartikainen is a passionate instrumentalist who constantly pushes the boundaries of both their instrument and themself ever further.
Heidi Piiroinen is a photographer and a visual artist. She worked as a press photographer for the Finnish daily paper HelsinginSanomat until February 2022 after graduating from the Turku Arts Academy in 2002 and the Lahti Institute of Design in 2002–2004. Her debut film Black Hole Mama premiered at DocPoint in 2017, and was subsequently screened at Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Available Light Film Festival, Canada, Video Art Festival Turku, & Cineteca Nacional in Mexico City. Her book Ohikuljetut -erään kerjäläisperheen tarina, done in collaboration with writer Kimmo Oksanen, won the State Award in 2019.
CHRONOVARIATIONS is an experimental 3D-sound piece for tenor saxophone, live electronics, resonating metal objects, and a space with magnificent acoustics. It explores the themes of time, resonance, and unfolding. Through Hartikainen's masterful saxophone performance and innovative use of electronics, the album invites listeners to explore a realm where sound evolves gradually, resonates holistically, and unfolds dramatically.
For 'Excerpt on II & III' music video, Piiroinen handcrafted an experiment with 16 mm film. Violent touch, combined with harsh chemical treatment, evolved into a compelling dialogue with time and CHRONOVARIATIONS' immersive sonic journey. The self-made chemicals brought a distinct character to the process.