Performances
7./8./9./16. & 17.2.2007 at 19:00

Space
Forum Box,
Ruoholahdenranta 3a, Helsinki, www.forumbox.fi
(the endstop of the tram 6)

Silence is Juha Valkeapää's vocal solo. The original idea came from the comic book Silence by Belgian Didier Comès. The book's main character, Silence, is mute and kind.

The world of Comès' book is mystical, and literally black-and-white. In Valkeapää's vocal piece it meets with contemporary homeless people's and industrial nightwatches' living and working surroundings. The world of the vocal piece Silence reminds of the world of these people who are either living or working between visible and invisible society.

With his voice, Valkeapää creates both the person and his surroundings. He approaches the spectator, or listener, through the sense of hearing, thus waking up emotions and sensations that come near to the skin - fear, hate, love, joy, hope.

Silence is almost wordless. It uses the whole space of the 300 m2 gallery Forum Box. The duration will be 40–60 minutes. The set is simple, easily transformable, portable and quick-to-put-up.

Concept and performance Juha Valkeapää
Direction Minna Harjuniemi
Set design Kari Sivonen and Juha Valkeapää
Lighting design Pietu Pietiäinen
Picture Sándor Vály
Production assistant Johanna Mäkelä

Juha Valkeapää is vocal and performance artist.
Since 1993, five hundred performances of one hundred and twenty different works in twentyfour countries – solos and various group works – vocal & sound & performance art, theatre, music, dance. Plus sound installations, soundscapes and compositions for exhibitions, radio, theatre and dance performances.
Silence is his seventh long vocal solo.

Contact and information: www.nbl.fi/juha.valkeapaa