Description
It is the year 1985 – the dawn of a new age. A faint dubbed scream echoes from the Far East. Mysterious and seemingly childish forces captivate an entire generation. Poor quality becomes the new norm. Sword blades shimmer in all the colours of the rainbow on cathode-ray televisions, and mass-produced ninja action films fill the Beta and VHS shelves. Karate studios are packed, synthesizers pump subharmonic evil, and oiled muscles bulge in every teenage boy’s dreams.
Forty years later. The world has become absurd. The glory of the golden generation has faded. Joke books have turned into memes, hybrid cyberwarfare is reality, and Uri Geller has returned. From the moss-covered granite ruins of nostalgia emerge two VHS warriors wrapped in time capsules, who unknowingly have been waiting for this moment since their birth.
The improvisational work of Anders Lillhonga (Kokkola) and Matti Haaponiemi (Tampere) revolves around interaction and play, merging the heroes of childhood action movies, pop culture, video games, and the mysticism, aesthetics, and pseudo-science of Eastern martial arts. Alongside tangible physicality, the performance overflows with analog and synthetic sound and video landscapes created by the artists themselves.
The work is a continuously evolving improvisational performance that simultaneously remembers the past and develops along with lived life. For the artists, the work is at its best when experienced together with the audience.
Either put on these glasses or start eating that trash can will be performed as part of the Pohjanmaa tanssii event at the Julia stage of Vaasa City Theatre on Friday, 15 March, at 19:00.
