Credits: Mark Rothko: Saffron, 1957.
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
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 moreCredits: Oblivia
Augmented reality and the shift towards smartphone mediated stage – are we there yet?
Oblivia did the first steps trying to integrate new interactive technologies into the artistic work in 2017 through a partnership with TECHNE project at Theater Rampe and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart in Germany. As a response to the project call we… Read moreGreetings from the symposium: Together in the Universe of Sound
In October Oblivia and Liisa Pentti +Co celebrated both companies 21 years with performances andsymposium under the umbrella Together in the Universe of Sound in Maunula-talo in Helsinki. On Friday the 29th of October 2021 we spent the day… Read moreCredits: Rachel McIntosh (also in the photo)
Against the loneliness of the singer
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 moreWords for Oblivia
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 moreCredits: “We are the Followers of Ø” «Fol-lo fol-lo!»
SPECTACULAR SCANDALOUS 100% EXCLUSIVE NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN SNEAK-PICS OF “THE FOLLOWERS OF Ø, part two”
Keywords: Capitalocene, Leftist Melancholy, the Cult of Vulnerability, Eschatology, Growth of… Read moreCredits: Alice Ferl
working together apart in space
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 moreCredits: Tua Helve. From left to right: Rachel Mcintosh, Timo Fredriksson, Juhani Räisänen, Annika Tudeer, Olivia Moss.
Notes on working with Oblivia
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 moreCredits: Tua Helve. From left to right: Olivia Moss, Annika Tudeer, Timo Fredriksson, Juhani Räisänen, Anna-Maija Terävä, Rachel Mcintosh.
Laulajan lavertelua
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 moreCredits: Anna-Maija Terävä
Beautiful Blur
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 moreCredits: Meri Ekola
Credits: Jennifer Torrence performs No Say No Way (2015) by Francois Sarhan [still frame]
Quick now–
“– 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 moreCredits: Oblivia
Collective introduction to the blog theme ‘music theatre’
Fanfares! Haze! Applauds and confetti! With deep excitement, we, the Obsessions team introduce our personal relationships with music theatre – or how we experience it in February 2021. Welcome to the blog… Read moreCredits: Lin Hixson
Facing the unknown
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 moreCredits: Saara Moisio, Anna-Maija Terävä
Tuntemattoman kohtaamisesta Oblivian kanssa
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 moreCredits: 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 moreCredits: Heidi Backström
Life lessons by Oblivia
- 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 moreCredits: Tua Helve
From behind the desk and the sewing machine – From inside the process and the pandemic – Being with Oblivia in 2020
February We celebrate at Theater Rampe in Stuttgart, Germany. We celebrate my birthday and we celebrate our magnificent new work, the music theatre performance Verdrängen Verdrängen Verdrängen that has been created in collaboration with Yiran Zhao, our new partner. We… Read moreCredits: Mark Harvey
Dear Oblivia
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 moreCredits: Bryan Saner
All is material
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 moreCredits: Daniela Wolf
“Is it a decision, or something that just happens?”
This last February, Oblivia performed “Verdrängen, Verdrängen, Verdrängen,” a collaboration between the theater group and composer Yiran Zhao, at the Stuttgart ECLAT festival for new music. This was the first time the group had worked with a composer to… Read moreCredits: Eija Mäkivuoti
Oblivia, rakastettuni
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 moreTo become part of, to be part of. Belonging.
I understand the need to shy away from the word collective as in the article of Bojana Cvejic from 2004. Some curators had perhaps lived in a collective, and felt the smell of lentil soup and the sight of… Read moreCredits: Meri Ekola
In Black Box
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 moreCredits: A still image from a documentation filmed by Christopher Hewitt.
On Improvisation
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 moreCredits: Oblivia
Introduction to Do What You Saw
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 moreCredits: Alice Ferl
The Trust Play
Meet Beaver & Bear, Turtle & Tiger and other charming characters of the Trust Play written by… Read moreCredits: Felizitas Stilleke
20 Food for Thoughts* on TRUST**
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 moreCredits: Saara Autere
Riskialttiita kohtaamisia
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 moreCredits: Heidi Backström
Kuinka tiedottaa tuntemattomasta?
Nyhjää tyhjästä Käännä sokkona Litteroi ja referoi mammutti Hio timanttia Kirkasta kuningasajatusta Kääri se kutsuvaan… Read moreAbout 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 moreCredits: Tua Helve
Kirmailua ja haromista
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 moreCredits: Eija Mäkivuoti. We´ll Never Let You Go, 2006.
Pehmeät reunat, terävät kulmat, hulppeaa naurua ja vähän muutakin
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 moreCredits: Yiran Chao
AAA, aaa, …
The first time to meet members of Oblivia, Oblivia, Oblivia, via, via,… Read moreCredits: 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 moreCredits: 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 moreCredits: Alice Ferl