There is no escape for anyone anymore. There seems to be no end to the daily stream of images in the media drawing our attention to yet another hotbed of war and violence. The information mix is quite significant, showing how the dividing line between minor, individual misbehaviour and grand scale transnational aggression has become a grey area. These layers, the parallel worlds where aggression and violence manifest themselves, are the starting point for 'Continuum'. Hakola is visualizing a continuous process wherein the violence of personal, individual acts turns into structural forms of violence in society. To this social outlook she subtly adds a historical dimension by mixing in images of conflicts of long ago with current footage. 'Continuum' is based on Sanna Kekäläinen's ballet 'Requiem' and we frequently hear fragments from Mozart's 'Requiem'. Against the backdrop of war scenes as shown in the media and devastated landscapes personal dramas unfold. Brief and longer scenes and dance sequences alternate in a play between harsh reality and fiction. A dancer is running as if for his life; he stumbles, falls and gets on his feet again. A woman and a man meet between the rubble of destroyed houses in an unnamed city. What seems to start as an intimate pas-de-deux deteriorates into rape and murder. These personal dramas take on a detached, almost timeless air, in contrast with the endless stream of authentic images of war. It only makes the universality of conflict and violence more penetrating and frightening. Is escape still possible? 'Continuum's' force lies in linking all these domains: the individual and the social, the historical and the contemporary. Through the various layers of time and image the spectre emerges of a world in crisis where personal drama is both beginning and ending in a vicious circle of violence.
– Geert-Jan Strengholt
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Image: Raimo Uunila, Sound, sound mmixing: Epa Tamminen, Choreografie: Sanna KekäläinenProductie: Kroma
Marikki Hakola ° 1960, Isokyrö (Finland)
Lives and works in Porvoo (Finland)
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