Garden on the Grave

Garden on the Grave is a gathering, a guided group wandering and a slowly unfolding mirage. The site-sensitive audio performance invites the audience to an urban cemetery, a vibrant ‘living place’, where cultural and ecological processes are inseparably intertwined. The performance celebrates how the living and the dead are bound together in the constant processes of vital regeneration. It draws attention to our relations and interactions with the environment and gently questions notions of individuality, exceptionalism, and what we perceive as natural. 

Garden on the Grave gives time and space for contemplation. The performance subtly guides the audience’s perception and invites the participants to engage in simple actions both alone and together. It is partly an audiowalk, partly a death meditation tape.

Garden on the Grave will premiere on 15.5.2025 at the historic Assistens Kirkegård Cemetery, Copenhagen as a part of Copenhagen Stage Festival. 

The performance is experienced through a personal smartphone and headphones.
Duration: max. 45 minutes. 
The performance is recommended for audiences aged 16 and above.

Credits:
Concept, Directing and Design: Samuli Laine and Jussi Matikainen / WAUHAUS
Performance Dramaturgy: Tuomas Laitinen
Research Assistance: Paula Sasse
Producer: Minttu-Maria Jäävuori and Julia Hovi / WAUHAUS
Production: Public Performance (DK), WAUHAUS

Support: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, The Danish Arts council, Svenska kulturfonden

Dates:
15.5. at 20.30 Premiere
16. - 26.5. at 20.30
27.5. at 18.00
28. - 30.5. at 20.30

Tickets: Here

Garden on the Grave is part of the PARKLIFE performance series initiated by Public Performance (DK) in 2023. The series is a collection of site-specific audiowalk performances, exploring the public parks of Copenhagen as biological, social and cultural meeting places.