Hanna Tuulikki’s multi-disciplinary projects investigate the ways in which the body communicates beyond and before words, to tell stories through imitation, vocalisation and gesture.
Hanna Tuulikki, (b. 1982) is a British-Finnish artist, composer and performer, based in Glasgow, Scotland. Her practice spans performance, film and multi-channel audio-visual installation, blending together vocal music, dance, costume and drawing. Her multi-disciplinary projects investigate the ways in which the body communicates beyond and before words, to tell stories through imitation, vocalisation and gesture. Often exploring music and movement traditions across cultures, she is particularly interested in how bodily relationships and folk histories are encoded within specific environments and places.
Hanna Tuulikki: Under Forest Cover, 2021 ©Maija Toivanen/HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021
Under Forest Cover, 2021
In her new work for Helsinki Biennial, Hanna Tuulikki explores the Finnish folkloric concept of being caught in metsänpeitto (forest cover), an enchanted forest landscape where places become unfamiliar and everything moves in reverse. Traditionally used to describe when people went missing in the forest, metsänpeitto is used by Hanna Tuulikki as a contemporary metaphor for the emotional trauma that comes with ecological awareness.
The installation consists of silver birch tree trunks, surround sound audio, and a filmed choreography. The sound features a vocal improvisation based on traditional cow calling songs recorded on Hanna Tuulikki’s now derelict family farm in Northern Savonia, in Eastern Finland.
Photo 1: Perttu Saksa
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Hanna Tuulikki
Under Forest Cover
2021
Single channel film hologram, five-channel sound, birch tree trunks, viewing platform, curtains
Choreography performed by Hanna Tuulikki
Dramaturgy and movement direction by Peter McMaster
Costume by Caroline Dear & Meg Miller
Cinematography by Andrew Begg
Edited by Hanna Tuulikki
On set wardrobe management by Lydia Honeybone
Vocal improvisation performed by Hanna Tuulikki
Location sound recorded by Pete Smith
Backwards song composed & recorded by Hanna Tuulikki
Sound mixed by Hanna Tuulikki
Surround sound mixed by Pete Smith
Installation design by James Boyer Smith
Early research supported by Saari Residence.
Additional production support from The Work Room, Glasgow School of Art, and Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow.
Many thanks to the Finnish Literature Society Sound Archive, Lusto Forest Museum, Ulla Kärkkainen, Päivi Alajärvi and Vuokko Andrews.
Commissioned by HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021