To Be Given Over

WAUHAUS x TERIKE HAAPOJA

Today, there is a deepening divide between bodies that can be used as a mere resource – labor, matter, source of pleasure – and those that are treated as protected subjects. Exploring the mechanisms of this divide is an ethical urgency.

To Be Given Over takes as its starting point the movement between encountering the other as a subject, in their worldliness, and as an object, a body. The piece borrows its title from Judith Butler’s 2020 book The Force of Nonviolence, where they write how we all are, as bodily, vulnerable beings, always already given over to others.

The work invites local performers of various ages, genders, backgrounds and different kinds of bodies to investigate how these questions can be embodied on stage. Together they practice different choreographies where the body is given over to others. The vulnerability from this fundamental interdependency can turn into both destructive or caring relations.

To Be Given over is the first artistic collaboration between Terike Haapoja and WAUHAUS. Terike Haapoja is a visual artist whose work investigates the existential and political boundaries our our world. Haapoja has focused specifically on issues arising from the anthropocentric world view of Western traditions. Animality, multispecies politics, cohabitation, time, loss, and repairing connections are recurring themes in Haapoja’s work.

The performance is co-produced by WAUHAUS, DansiT (NO), Kanuti Gildi SAAL (EE) in collaboration with Rosendal Teater (NO). To Be Given Over will premiere 22nd of March 2023 at Multiplié Dance Festival in Trondheim Norway. Future performance versions with a local cast of performers will premiere later in 2024.

Concept by: Terike Haapoja
Direction and Choreography: Terike Haapoja & Jarkko Partanen
Sound Design: Jussi Matikainen & Heidi Soidinsalo
Cinematography: Uwa Iduozee
Editing: Terike Haapoja
Sound design for video: Jussi Matikainen & Heidi Soidinsalo
Performers in video: Alexander Wille, Arnt Roberth Leganger, Maíra Rodrigues Dança, Mia Helene Engeskaug, Oluwaseun Usman
Performers on stage: Alexander Wille , Arnt Roberth Leganger, Maíra Rodrigues Dança, Mia Helene Engeskaug, Oluwaseun Usman
Production: WAUHAUS (FI), DansiT (NO), Kanuti Gildi SAAL (EE) in collaboration with Rosendal Teater (NO)
Supported by: Nordic Culture Point, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, The Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Foundation