CARPA 9 conference in 2025

The theme for the ninth international conference on artistic research is Ecological Design and Performance Pedagogies: Sustainable Practices and Interdisciplinary Acts in a Climate Changed World.

There are three strands running parallel in the programme:

1. Ecological Design Practices 

The global ecological crisis calls for the exploration of new practices in performance production across areas such as set, costume, lighting, and sound. In this theme, focused on ‘Ecological Design Practices’, we are interested in how researchers, practitioners, educators and mentors have integrated sustainability into their processes. 

2. Ecological Performance Making 

The global ecological crisis calls for the exploration of new performance making practices across performing arts disciplines. In this theme, focused on ‘Ecological Performance Making’, we are interested in how researchers, practitioners, educators and mentors have integrated ecological thinking into their performance making processes. How is ecological thinking informing new works for performance? 

3. Ecological Storytelling  

The global ecological crisis calls for a rethinking of our relationship to the environment and how we tell stories that embraces a post-humanist approach. This theme, ‘Ecological Storytelling’, is interested in how researchers, practitioners, educators and mentors conceptualize the notion of ecological in relation to storytelling across various performing arts disciplines. In what ways can First Nations and other non-hegemonic knowledges (re)shape ecological theory and thinking in/through storytelling? 

Throughout the conference days on Thu-Sat in Studio 534 there is a non-stop sound and video installation by Damien Ricketson, Diane Chester and Fausto Brusalimono running: 

Listening to Earth is a sensory sound and video installation that invites audiences to listen and connect to their environment through sound. Created by sound artist Diana Chester, composer Damien Ricketson and video artist Fausto Brusamolino, Listening to Earth facilitates hearing the earth in ways that sit beyond our usual modes of perception. Exploring the vibratory interplay between sea and land, this deep listening experience positions the earth as a store of vibrational memory that, via an experience of heightened attentiveness, we may better understand what it has to say. 

Outdoors presentations: 
Merihaka strand, across the street from the intersection of Haapaniemenkatu and Sörnäinen Rantatie, a 3–5-minute walk 

Around Mylly building, next to TeaK building (Academy of the Fine Arts), Sörnäisten Rantatie 
There is also a Lounge in Auditorium 2 where you can rest and have some snacks. 

Wednesday 27 August

10:00–16:00  
Check-in and Information Desk is open at TeaK Tori, Haapaniemenkatu 6 (Sörnäinen Campus). 
Day for arrival, information on sightseeing and social events. 

Thursday 28 August

8:00–19:00
Teak Tori 

Check-in and Information Desk open

9:00–9:45  
Theatre Hall  

Opening of the conference by the conference committee 

10:00–10:30  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 1: AUD 1 

Ian Garrett 
Teaching Eco-Scenography: Pedagogical Frameworks for Ecological Design for Performance at York University 

Paper 30 min 

10:00–10:45  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 2: STUDIO 1 

Maedy de Miranda-Tol  
The Choreographic Force of Matter: Reframing Ecodramaturgy 

Lecture-performance 45 min 

10:00-10:45  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 3: Theatre Hall 

Laura Cull O`Maoilearca, Dorothy Blokland, Joy Brandsma, Patricia de Vries, Sabine Niederer and Carlo De Gaetano 
Climate Imaginaries at Sea: Interdisciplinary Artistic Research as Ecological Storytelling 

Workshare 45 min 

10:30 –11.00  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 1: AUD 1 

Elina Lifländer
Involvement of the spectator in scenographic content  

Paper 30 min 

10:45–11:15  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 2: STUDIO 1  

Anne-Lise Brevers 
Hyperwithin: a shy dramaturgy in shadowtimes 

Paper 30 min  

10:45-11:30  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 3: Theatre Hall 

Riikka Tauriainen 
Plankton Ecosystems and Situated Learning in Fluid Networks 

Multimodal 45 min 

11:00–11:30  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 1: AUD 1 

Kathryn Downton 
Putting the Theatre Green Book into Practice; Sustainability, Pedagogy and the Conservatoire 

Paper 30 min 

12:00-12:45  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 4: STUDIO 4 

Lauren O`Neal  
The Eco-Curatorial: Reimagining Cultural Institutions                          

Workshare 45 min 

12:00–12:45  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 5: STUDIO 1 

Tuomas Laitinen
Compostable thinking 

Lecture-performance 45 min 

12:00-12:30  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 6: Theatre Hall 

John Taukave and John Kautoke
Hanua ‘e ‘os gasava: Delivering a Just and Equitable Transition within acti(vā)ted spaces and values, at the IMO. An Oceanic Perspective 

Paper 30 min 

12:30-13:00 

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 6:  Theatre Hall 

Damien Ricketson and Diana Chester
Intertidal Conversations

Paper 30 min 

Also, throughout the conference days on Thu-Sat in Studio 53, C-stairs, 5th Floor4 there is a non-stop sound and video installation by Damien Ricketson, Diane Chester and Fausto Brusalimono running. 

13:00–14.30  

LUNCH at Teak 

14:30-15:00  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 7: AUD 1 

Daniel Kofi Brako
Perspectives of Selected Designers on Ecoscenography and a Sustainable Ghanaian Theatre Stage 

Paper 30 min 

14:30–15:00  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 8: STUDIO 1 

Aldith Gauci
Aesthetic Responses to the Ecological Crisis in the Indigenous Jola Masquerades of Senegambia  

Paper 30 min  

14:30- 15:30  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 9: Theatre Hall 

Aino-Kaisa Koistinen and Susi Mikael Nousiainen
Writing-with-water: A feminist environmental artist pedagogy 

Workshop 60 min 

15:00–15:30  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 7: AUD 1 

Oshima Hiroko
Paper, Plants, and Performance: Reapproaching Scenography by Listening to Ancestral Knowledge   

Paper 30 min 

15:00-15.45  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 8: STUDIO 1 

Tormod Carlsen
Recycling traditions of garden theatre in search of relevance for a sustainable theatre.  

Lecture-performance 45 min 

16:15-17:00   

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 10: STUDIO 4 

Anna Chrtková
How Slow Can We Go? Staging the Sustainable Spaces in an Age of Burnout 
Workshare 45 min 

16:15-17:15   

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 11: STUDIO 1 

Riina Hannula and Kaajal Modi
Thermofilia: witnessing the microbial through hot yoga fermentation 

Workshop 60 min.  

16:15-17:45  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 12: Outdoors 

Marianne Lavoie
Serendipity and Storytelling: A Regenerative Framework for the Cultural Sector 

Outdoors 90 min 

Merihaka strand, across the street from the intersection of Haapaniemenkatu and Sörnäinen Rantatie, a 3–5-minute walk  

18:00-18:45 

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 13:  STUDIO 4 

Oona Leino-Virtanen
Touching as a way for multi-species knowledge 

Multimodal presentation 45 min                              

18:00-18:45  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 14: STUDIO 1 
Kilpeläinen Raisa and Milla Martikainen
On More Sustainable Performance Design, Education and the Future Skills in a World of Polycrisis. 

Multimodal presentation 45 min. 

18:00 – 19:00  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 15: Theatre Hall 

Germain Ducroise
Dancing an embodied landscape: an ecosomatic movement workshop 

Workshop 60 min 

Friday 29 August

9:00–14:00  

Teak Tori 
Information desk open  

9:30-10:15  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices

Session 16:  Theatre Hall 

Micaela Kühn
Eco-Thinking in Decision Making in the Dance Studio: a try-out of a Decision-Making Framework in Choreographic Production

Multimodal presentation 45 

9.30–10.00  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making

Session 17: AUD 1 

Joonas Lahtinen
Mundane matters – “use what you have” and “politics of the mundane” as tools for facilitating ecological and resource-conscious HEI performance art pedagogy  

Paper 30min 

9:30-11:00  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling

Session 18: STUDIO 4 

Alba Balmaseda Dominiguez 
Unveiling Water: Embodied Explorations of Urban Waterscapes 

90 min  

11:00-12:00  

PAUSE 

12:00–12:30  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices 

Session 19: STUDIO 4 

Marija Griniuk 
Indigenous art: Whakapapa and Maadtoe   

Paper 30 min 

12.00- 12.30  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making 

Session 20: STUDIO 1 

Jo Pollitt
Weather Ecopoetic practice Dramaturgy Choreographic writing Improvisation  

Paper 30 min 

12:00-12:30  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling 

Session 21: Theatre Hall 

Kitija Balcare 
Building Ecological Awareness Through Ecotheatre: Case of Latvia 

Paper 30 min 

12:30-13:00  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices 

Session 19: STUDIO4 

Gretchen Jude 
(In Search of) the Radical Recuperative Potential of Listening and Sounding Practice 
Paper 30 min 

12.30-13.00  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making 

Session 20: STUDIO 1 

Ida Ślęzak 
Researching Artistic Processes: Tools, and Strategies for Performing Arts Ecosystems  

Paper 30 min  

12:30-13:00  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling 

Session 21: Theatre Hall 

Asmita Sarkar 
Insight into ecological story telling through case-studies from contemporary visual-material art from India. 

Paper 30 min 

13:00-14:00  

LUNCH at Teak 

14:00–14:45  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices 

Session 22: STUDIO 4 

Carly Everaert and Laura Cull O` Maoilearca
Head seeks Hand: Regenerative Artistic Research in Costume Design                              

Workshare 45 min 

14:00-15:30  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making 

Session 23: OUTDOORS 

Jari Koho 
How to Do Almost Nothing: An outline of the (Im)possibility of Making Art Today. (Ecological Sound Artistic Perspective) 

Outdoors in the vicinity of the Sörnäinen campus. Bring weather-appropriate clothing and good walking shoes. 

The length of the route is about two kilometers. Unfortunately, the route is not accessible. 90 min 

14:00-14:30  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling 

Session 24: Theatre Hall 

Andrea Franco 
Plants, Stones, and Bats: The Non-Anthropocentric Dramaturgy of Chilean Director and Playwright Manuela Infante 

Paper 30 min 

14:30-15:00  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling 

Session 24: Theatre Hall 

Oliver Gough 
Tied in a Global Knot: ecological storytelling looking beyond formal and national borders 

Paper 30 min 

15:00–15:45  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices 

Session 22: STUDIO 4 

Rachel Young  
Threads of Inquiry from Costuming the Collapse – An Exploration of Costume Fragments  

Workshare 45 min 

15:15-16:15  

STRAND 3: Ecological Storytelling 

Session 24: Outdoors 

Elena Peytchinska and Thomas Ballhausen  
Performing Undisciplined Landscapes: A Posthuman Approach to Collective Storytelling 

Workshop 60 min 

Merihaka strand, across the street from the intersection of Haapaniemenkatu and Sörnäinen Rantatie, a 3–5-minute walk 

15:45-16:30  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making 

Session 23: STUDIO 1 

Juliana España Keller and Aleksandre Pèpin  
Entering Into a Sonic Intra-active Quantum Relation with Plant Life. 

Lecture performance 45 min 

16.30-17.15  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making 

Session 23: STUDIO 1 

Monika Klimaitė-Daunienė
Heterarchical creation – a way to approach a process of performance making as an ecosystem  

Workshare 45 min 

17:30-18:30  

ALL STRANDS 

Session 25: Theatre Hall 

Keynote Raisa Foster (FIN) 

18:30–21:00  

Theatre Hall and Tori 

Conference welcome reception  

Saturday 30 August

9:00–13:00 

Teak Tori 

Information desk open   

9:30–10:15  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices 

Session 26: STUDIO 4 

Snezana Pesic 
Designing The Trials: Sustainable Design Practices in an Educational Setting  

Workshare 45 min 

9:30-10:15  

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making 

Session 27: STUDIO 1 

Marika Hedemyr 
Ashes to Ashes: Sensing our co-existence with planet earth in a mixed reality walk at a cemetery 

Workshare 45 min  

9:30- 10:15  

STRAND 3:  Ecological Storytelling 

Session 28: Theatre Hall 

Dezsi Fruzina and Màrton Gàbor Csaba
Hug the Future  

Lecture-performance 45 min 

10:15-11:00  

STRAND 3:  Ecological Storytelling 

Session 28: Theatre Hall  

Catarina Fontoura 
Mapping Emergence: Fieldwork, Art, and Interspecies Co-creation 

Multimodal presentations 45 min  

11:15-12:15  

ALL STRANDS 

Session 29: Theatre Hall 

Keynote Dylan Van Den Berg 

12:15-13:15 

LUNCH at Teak 

13:15-14:15  

STRAND 1: Ecological Design Practices 

Session 30: STUDIO 4 

Julie Fournier 
Mentoring Change: Ecosceno’s Practical Tools for Sustainable Transition in the Cultural Sector 

Workshop 60 min 

13:15-14:45   

STRAND 2: Ecological Performance Making 

Session 31: OUTDOORS 

Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski Alejandro Olarte and Pascale Weber
Taking electroacoustic musical performance out of the concert hall and into the open air – How solar panel instruments allow the emergence of a performance milieu grasped in its human and non-human complexity. 

Outdoors 90 min 
Around Myllypuro building, next to TeaK building (Academy of the Fine Arts), Sörnäisten Rantatie 

13:15-14:00  

STRAND 3:  Ecological Storytelling 

Session 32:  Theatre Hall 

Lee Miller and Joanne “Bob” Whalley 
Dreaming Machines: Ecological Thinking and Ephemerality in Performance Pedagogy 

Lecture performance 45 min 

14.00-14:45   

STRAND 3:  Ecological Storytelling 

Session 32: Theatre Hall 

Jeanette Mueller and Paul Divjak 
NATURE AFTER NATURE – A Multisensory Medley for Systems Awareness
 
45 min 
 
15:00–16:30 

ALL STRANDS 

Session 32: Theatre Hall 

Summary and the CARPA9 closing

Conference practical management

Dr. Riitta Pasanen-Willberg 

Time

28.8.2025 – 30.8.2025

Location

Kookos

Haapaniemenkatu 6

00530 Helsinki

Sörnäinen campus

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