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Credits: Tua Helve

Reflecting on my Musiktheater Skepticism

While working with Oblivia on their performance of Turn Turtle Turn for the Munich Biennale—where I served as a techie, scheduler, and general go-to person—I came to know the work and its creators quite well. Our conversations were fruitful,… Read more

Credits: Tua Helve

Turtle Diary – The travel of ideas and influences

#musictheater

…from the ancient wellsfrom the ice agestreams deep underdrops springing forward… (Turn Turtle Turn, from ‘Ocean’ lyrics by Annika Tudeer) My favourite concept arising from the Turn Turtle Turn process is ‘deep time’. ‘Deep time’ sounds abstract and mystical on the… Read more


Credits: Oblivia

Pleasure and pain

Basking in the afterglow of the Pleasure-Helsinki experience, I got the idea to sum up the years with Pleasure. The end of the 2023 (that I truly hope was not the finale finali of the piece) was a homecoming and… Read more

About Pleasure and pleasure

I thought about sex when Annika called me and asked whether I would be interested in joining Oblivia for their piece Pleasure. I like sex, but making something about that kind of pleasure on stage does not interest me.… Read more

Credits: Mark Rothko: Saffron, 1957.

Postpandemic blues

It is over and yet not over. It is here but gone. The ground is shaking and I am confused. The unusually cold May and June would be good for hibernation, but the idea makes me shudder. No more isolation,… Read more


Credits: Jörg Landsberg. Obsessions at Theater Bremen, 2022. Left: Karin Enzler, Alice Ferl, Matthieu Svetchine, Annika Tudeer, Nerita Nerita Pokvytyte.

Big and small at the same time

#collectivework #guestwriter

Physical direction, working in a collective, and the form and content of emotions A conversation between Anna Teuwen and Annika Tudeer about the past, present and future of Oblivia. Anna Teuwen is a dramaturg at Kampnagel in Hamburg, and a… Read more



Credits: Jenny Nordlund

Doing things together in music theater

#guestwriter #musictheater

Annika: It was wonderful to get to know you in our symposium in October and hear how you had come up with a lucid analysis on the premises for processes that we artists never are able to articulate and… Read more

Credits: Rachel McIntosh (also in the photo)

Against the loneliness of the singer

#guestwriter #musictheater

In the Together in the Universe of Sound symposium we heard several aspects of working together with performing bodies, voice, space, norms, politics, music and sound, the possibilities and the challenges.In an artist dialogue, mezzo soprano Rachel McIntosh and… Read more

Credits: Annika Tudeer

Ho, happy holidays!

In continuation to Annika’s Christmas tale in 2020, this year, we invite everyone to enjoy the end-of-the-year season with the best delicacies we know… Around the world, with love from Oblivia members – wishing you happy holidays & some… Read more

Words for Oblivia

#guestwriter

whenever I have trouble organizing my thoughts clearly on the stage or on the paper I start to collage and see if I can visualize certain connections.  Richard Foreman has, on his website a tab called notebooks - these are… Read more

Credits: Ia Ensterä in the midst of working during a lockdown. Photo Jere Kolehmainen.

From designer to facilitator… to designer again?

Wouldn’t it be lovely to unapologetically plunge into pondering over theatricality, emotions, politics, music in performative arts, and anything and everything we used to discuss to no end? As a scenographer, I would like nothing more than to do… Read more

Credits: Examining items found in the Oblivia analogue archive. Photo TLF

Reflections from the Oblivia analogue archive

I recently spent a few days locked up in what we call the analogue archive of Oblivia. Our archive contains material from the whole twenty one years of Oblivia´s existence so you can easily imagine what it looks like;… Read more


Credits: Alice Ferl

working together apart in space

#collectivework

One of the key necessities to develop together in Oblivia always has been: spending time together in the same space. Enough of it. Physically. In the studio, some rehearsal stage or stage, in the kitchen during breaks, on the… Read more

Credits: Tua Helve. From left to right: Rachel Mcintosh, Timo Fredriksson, Juhani Räisänen, Annika Tudeer, Olivia Moss.

Notes on working with Oblivia

#guestwriter #musictheater #obsessions

A couple of years ago I trained with a director who encouraged the group to play every day we were together; we played games, we built characters and stories, we ran about, we laughed - I hadnot experienced such… Read more

Credits: Tua Helve. From left to right: Olivia Moss, Annika Tudeer, Timo Fredriksson, Juhani Räisänen, Anna-Maija Terävä, Rachel Mcintosh.

Laulajan lavertelua

#guestwriter #musictheater #obsessions

Olen parin viikon ajan ollut töissä Oblivialla. Minut palkattiin laulajaksi uuden teoksen harjoituksiin. Valmisteilla on musiikkiteatteriesitys nimeltä Obsessions, jonka ensi-ilta on Saksassa. Harjoitusperiodi alkoi Suomessa ja siihen tarvittiin vakituisten esiintyjien lisäksi kolme laulajaa. Sibelius-Akatemiasta löytyi kaksi naisääntä, mutta ei… Read more

Credits: Anna-Maija Terävä

Beautiful Blur

#collectivework

When working in Oblivia the amount of the elements sometimes exceeds my scope. When trying to focus on what is essential, it seems like there is often something clear and sharp in the middle but also a lot of… Read more

Credits: Meri Ekola

Toolbox

#collectivework

3, 2, 1 lift-off, a new Oblivia production has started! We are ready to dwell into everyone’s dreams, fears and wishes, we talk and talk, write, talk more, share our writings, improvise together with movement and sound, listen to… Read more

Jennifer Torrence performs No Say No Way (2015) by Francois Sarhan [still frame]
Credits: Jennifer Torrence performs No Say No Way (2015) by Francois Sarhan [still frame]

Quick now–

#guestwriter

“– Find the edge between comfort and discomfort, the familiar and the unknown. Balance there, however precariously." [1] I want to talk about the relationship between presence and crisis in performance. Considering it’s 2021 I suppose this combination of… Read more

Credits: Sanna Salmenkallio

APUA, MITÄ SE MUSIIKKITEATTERI NYT OLIKAAN?

#guestwriter #musictheater

Pienen pohdinnan jälkeen tajuan, että en oikeastaan tiedä mitä musiikkiteatteri on. Onko se jotain, jossa kerrontaa kuljetetaan vahvasti musiikin keinoin? Pitääkö senolla laulettua vai riittääkö merkityksellinen ääni yhdistettynä lavatoimintaan?Nopsa googlailu tarjoaa laulun, musiikin, tanssin, näyttelemisen ja puhutun dialoginyhdistelmiä eri… Read more


Credits: Lin Hixson

Facing the unknown

#guestwriter

At 7 pm on Friday, February 22nd, 2019, we attended the performance of Nature Theatre of Oblivia at Link’s Hall in Chicago. Of all the things we could say about this performance, we will say only two. First, the… Read more

Credits: Saara Moisio, Anna-Maija Terävä

Tuntemattoman kohtaamisesta Oblivian kanssa

#guestwriter

Tiedättekö sen tunteen, joka tulee, kun istuu katsomossa ja odottaa esiintyjiä saapuvaksi? Tai katsoo esiintyjiä ja odottaa mitä he alkavat tehdä? Sitä yrittää pitää itsensä mahdollisimman avoimena kohtaamaan sen mitä tulee. Sitä haluaa kohdata jotain uutta ja tuntematonta luottaen,… Read more

Credits: Annika Tudeer

A Christmas story

Oh these Christmas times. There is so much to do, all these things to prepare. This year I will make an even bigger gingerbread house. Gretel Johansson took another sip of her morning coffee, wrinkled her forehead and started to… Read more

Life Lessons by Oblivia
Credits: Heidi Backström

Life lessons by Oblivia

#guestwriter

- 46 things I’ve learnt by watching Oblivia’s performances, talking with the group and working with them Lesson 1: You are allowed to laugh as much as you want to (as a spectator in a performance). Lesson 2: (As a spectator)… Read more


Mark Harvey
Credits: Mark Harvey

Dear Oblivia

#guestwriter

Dear Oblivia, It’s three years to the day since our time together. I enter the big old industrial building, hang my coat up, take my shoes off and walk into the studio with Oblivia. Tracksuit on, ready for action. Ready… Read more

Nature Park Sculpture
Credits: Bryan Saner

All is material

#guestwriter

The material world begins with my body. I am matter. I am material. It is a substance that perceives itself. This body is how I experience the material world. It’s a magnet for connecting to otherness - other bodies,… Read more


Credits: Eija Mäkivuoti

Oblivia, rakastettuni

#guestwriter

Tiedän, että olet ryhmä, koostut useista taiteilijoista, pysyvistä ja vierailevista, mutta tässä fanikirjeessä otan vapauden puhutella sinua yksikön ensimmäisessä persoonassa. ”Oblivia toteutti 5.-10.3. live-installaation Oblivia's Room, josta oli esityksiä päivittäin klo 18 ja 20. Teemana huoneet ja mitä niissä tehdään.… Read more


Credits: Meri Ekola

In Black Box

#design

The black box setting has been the context where the work has been created during my time in Oblivia. I have heard about the early adventures in hangars and other alternative spaces to create performances in the group’s history… Read more

Credits: A still image from a documentation filmed by Christopher Hewitt.

On Improvisation

#collectivework #dowhatyousaw

In this text I will try and describe some elements of improvisation in Oblivia. I don’t try to grab on improvisation as an art form or sort out different performance practices related to for example dance or theater improvisation.… Read more

Credits: Oblivia

Introduction to Do What You Saw

#dowhatyousaw

Bem, Bam, Bim and Bom have decided to try out Oblivias Do What You Saw method (from now on referred to as DWYS) using Oblivias DWYS manual as reference (currently out of print). Let's see how they are going… Read more

Credits: Alice Ferl

The Trust Play

Meet Beaver & Bear, Turtle & Tiger and other charming characters of the Trust Play written by… Read more

Credits: Felizitas Stilleke

20 Food for Thoughts* on TRUST**

#guestwriter

1. Thinking is there to push 2. This works best when I trust my opponent or my fellow thinker and when I know where the bruises are lurking and and when the offence is deliberate and asked… Read more

Candide
Credits: Saara Autere

Riskialttiita kohtaamisia

#guestwriter

Koronaeristyksen keskellä mietin haikeana kommunikointia. Ääni kuuluu puhelimesta ja näytöllä näkyvät hymyilevät kasvot, mutta yhteinen hetki on vajaa. Myös esityksen kohtaaminen näytöllä on laiha lohtu teatterien ovien pysyessä kiinni. Kokemuksesta puuttuu olennainen osa, kun siihen ei sisälly erilaiset energiavirtaukset… Read more


About roots and influences

This text was was written between August 2018 and April 2020. It begun two years ago in the wake of Anna's death. Although today the present is so much more, well - present than the past and the beginning… Read more

Credits: Tua Helve

Kirmailua ja haromista

#guestwriter

Avoimuudesta ja uteliaisuudesta – tehtävänanto ja tematiikka oli päässäni kääntynyt vapaudeksi. Ehkä yksinkertaisesti siitä syystä, että Oblivia on näyttäytynyt minulle ryhmänä, joka on paennut kaikenlaisia lopputulemia ja loppuun lyötyjä määrittelyjä. Eikö tällainen asenne edusta juuri vapautta? Vapaushan juuri ilmenee avoimuutena ja uteliaisuutena. Vapauden… Read more

Credits: Eija Mäkivuoti. We´ll Never Let You Go, 2006.

Pehmeät reunat, terävät kulmat, hulppeaa naurua ja vähän muutakin

#guestwriter

Olen useaan kertaan paikalle osunut kaveri ja kanssa-taiteilija sekä Oblivian vankkumaton ihailija.Oblivian perustaminen vuonna 2000 osui aikaan, jolloin itse vielä totuttelin asumaan Suomessa Amsterdamin opiskeluvuosien ja muun ulkomailla vietetyn ajan jälkeen. Ryhmän kollektiivisesti toteutuneet teokset herkuttelivat minimalismilla ja komiikalla.… Read more

Credits: Yiran Chao

AAA, aaa, …

The first time to meet members of Oblivia, Oblivia, Oblivia, via, via,… Read more

Credits: Annika Tudeer. Michigan Theater Detroit 2019.

In the middle of the night

“What are you verdrängen, Annika”, asks Alice in one scene that never made it to the performance. She continued explaining the shaming mechanism through the event of a cheese stick at a birthday party, where everyone laughed at the… Read more

Credits: Att tänka på flygning [To think about flying], Tram Museum, 2000.

Welcome to the Blog!

Yes, it is only 20 years ago that Oblivia started out in the Tram Museum in Helsinki, looking for alternative ways of making experimental art together. The world was a very different place then. The fear of the millennium… Read more