AALTO DESIGN - SHAPES OF WELLBEING (2026)
Exhibition
Architecture and Design Museum, Helsinki
Exhibition Architecture: Linda Bergroth
Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo, Granlund Oy
Photos: Paavo Lehtonen / AD Museum
The exhibition invites visitors to explore Alvar, Aino and Elissa Aalto’s architecture and design from the perspective of wellbeing. The multidisciplinary exhibition boldly asks what these classics can contribute to contemporary discussions on the design of wellbeing.
IN SEARCH OF THE PRESENT: ON ROOTLESSNESS (2026)
Exhibition
EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Lighting: Lasse Lindfors, Anna Pöllänen and Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Paula Virta / EMMA Museum
In Search of the Present: On Rootlessness is an exploration of the now, an invitation to be present both in time and in place. The exhibition delves into art’s ability to ground us, even when the world we inhabit is in constant motion.
AHTI / NENONEN - MASSIF (2025)
Performance
Teatteri Takomo, Helsinki
Light: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Katri Naukkarinen
Massif is a composed, spatial work where we descend into the sound, the waves, to closeness and distance. The work begins with a bright light that slowly fades into darkness over the course of its duration.
Directing and performance: Hanna Ahti, Tatu Nenonen, Sound design: Tatu Nenonen, Light: Jani-Matti Salo, Visual Artist: Jaana Laakkonen, Creative Producer, Writer: Mirkka Maikola, Performance Dramaturg: Emil Santtu Uuttu, Costume Adviser: Virpi Nieminen
The work was produced with the support of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
WINNER! FINALIST IN THE DESIGN COMPETITION FOR THE NEW MUSEUM OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN (2025)
Exhibition
Architecture and Design Museum, Helsinki
Exhibition Architecture: Aalto+Aalto
Lighting Design: Jani-Matti Salo, Granlund Oy
Photos: Anni Koponen / AD Museum
MARIE-JOSÉ VAN HEE – FOR SUN AND WIND TO PAINT ON (2025)
Exhibition
Architecture and Design Museum, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo (large hall)
Photos: Paavo Lehtonen / AD Museum
The living room and dining room of a house designed by award-winning Belgian architect Marie-José Van Hee (b. 1950) are presented here at their true scale. Van Hee is one of the most significant European architects of our time and a recent recipient of the prestigious Alvar Aalto Medal.
THE SOCIETY OF SWEDISH LITERATURE IN FINLAND 140 - ARCHIVE ORIGINALS (2025)
Exhibition
The National Library of Finland, Helsinki
Exhibition Architecture: Osmo Leppälä
AV design: Jani-Matti Salo, Granlund Oy
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo
KAISALEENA HALINEN - THE SPACE BETWEEN MEMORY (2023)
Exhibition
Himmelblau Gallery, Finlayson, Tampere
6-channel soundscape and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo and Kaisaleena Halinen
Photos: Ari Karttunen
PIPSA LONKA - NELJÄN PÄIVÄN LÄHEISYYS (SKY EVERY DAY) (2023)
Performance
& Espoo Theatre, Finland
Direction, performance dramaturgy and design: Laura Haapakangas, Juni Klein, Jani-Matti Salo, and Heidi Soidinsalo
Photos: Katri Naukkarinen, WAUHAUS
A beach requires three: land, sea, and sky.
Humans flock to a sunny beach resort, chat mindlessly on the terrace of an oceanside restaurant, and pass the time in the solitude of hotel rooms. This beach isn’t a haven of nostalgic idleness, as a wall of dead fish is pushed onto the shore from the murky ocean. The audiovisual performance offers eye-opening perspectives on the human condition and our relationship to nature. In sky every day the stage is inhabited by the multispecies mortals of the seaside resort.
HANNALEENA HEISKA & MINNA TERVAMÄKI - METAMORPHOSIS I & II (2023)
Performance installation
EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo with Minna Tervamäki and Hannaleena Heiska
Photo: Ari Karttunen / EMMA
Metamorphosis – Part I is like a painting in motion, with the moods of playfulness, strangeness and fragility alternating. The space itself is transformed by the changing coloured lights, paint and movement. The performance becomes a drama of painting and motion that leaves room for the viewer’s own interpretation.
Metamorphosis – Part II is a slowly changing painterly event that appears different depending on the viewing angle. With their human features removed, the characters are transformed by the paint and movement into new kinds of creatures. The layering of the work gives rise to endless combinations and possibilities for the viewing experience.
ALBERT EDELFELT (2023)
Exhibition
Ateneum, Helsinki
Lighting design: Johanna Naalisvaara and Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: FNG / Hannu Pakarinen
AHTI, KUNINGAS, LOMMI, RINNE, NENONEN, SALO, SOIDINSALO - SVETT (2021)
Performance
Teater Viirus, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Yoshi Omori
In Svett (Sweat) by Hanna Ahti, Iida Kuningas, Aksinja Lommi, Piia Rinne, Tatu Nenonen, Jani-Matti Salo, and Heidi Soidinsalo dance, theatre, light, and sound come together. It is a performance that focuses on the uninhibited body and a stage that reeks of existential sweat. The performance is based on the interplay of friction and flow – it is a crash in which things wax and wane again and again. It lingers in the now and with the ghosts that inhabit the bodies of the performers and the performance space. Svett is about celebrating and getting stuck, about surfing the waves of time.
WAUHAUS & MINNA LEINO: SAPIENS (2019-2020)
Performance
The Finnish National Theatre, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Samuli Laine, Katri Naukkarinen
Based on Yuval Noah Harari’s international bestseller, Sapiens is an enchanting nature documentary about the human species. The performance takes a light-hearted, ironic, and provocative look at the history of humankind, from the dawn of time to the present – and offers a glimpse into its future.
Direction and choreography: Juni Klein and Jarkko Partanen, Adaptation and performance script: Minna Leino, Set design: Samuli Laine, Costume design: Laura Haapakangas, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Heidi Soidinsalo and Jussi Matikainen, Cast: Hanna Ahti, Iida Kuningas, Aksinja Lommi, Markku Maalismaa, Karin Pacius, Ilja Peltonen, Heikki Pitkänen, Johannes Purovaara, Antti Pääkkönen, Juha Varis. In partnership: The Finnish National Theatre, W A U H A U S, and Zodiak – Centre for New Dance.
TADAC - THEIR LIMBS THEIR LUNGS THEIR LEGS (2019)
Performance
Theatre Academy, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Katri Naukkarinen
In a gloomy space with a fantastic variety of green colors, nine performers explore and reconsider modes of bodily existence. Their limbs, lungs and legs are exposed and forgotten, sometimes an extension, sometimes a renewal of the surrounding musty scenography.
Choreography: Lea Moro (guest), Co-Choreography and dance: Matilda Aaltonen, Taru Aho, Anni Kaila, Ella Koikkalainen, Riikka Laurilehto, Janna Loukas, Aino Purhonen, Ilona Salonen ja Jussi Suomalainen, Dramaturgy: Per Ehrnström, Costume and set design: Corinna Helenelund (guest), Sound design: Joonas Pernilä, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo (guest)
PIPSA LONKA - DEN ANDRA NATUREN (2018)
Performance
Teater Viirus, Helsinki
Lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo and Mark Niskanen
Photos: Mark Niskanen
Den Andra Naturen (The Second Nature) is a funny and at the same time melancholic performance about getting used to living, the ethical choices that are hidden in our everyday lives, and the moments in life that shake up our habitual behavior. The performance contemplates our mortality, which we share with all the other living beings.
Unpacking the relationship between humans and animals the performance looks deeper, from one relationship to the other. How do we perceive the difference between living creatures? What does it mean to own another, is it allowed or even possible? Can you refuse to do so?
Script: Pipsa Lonka, Direction: Juni Klein, Set & costume design: Laura Haapakangas, Sound design: Heidi Soidinsalo, Lighting & video design: Jani-Matti Salo and Mark Niskanen, Actors: Oskar Pöysti, Maria Alroth, Martin Bahne, Iida Kuningas
ANTTI HIETALA - MOUNT EVEREST (2018)
Performance
Q-teatteri, Helsinki
Set, lighting design and video design: Jani-Matti Salo and Mark Niskanen
Photo: Pate Pesonius
Script & direction: Antti Hietala, Dramaturgy: Jani Volanen, Actors: Minna Haapkylä, Lotta Kaihua, Pirjo Lonka, Pyry Nikkilä, Paavo Kinnunen, Set, lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo and Mark Niskanen, Sound design: Kasperi Laine, Costume design: Pirjo Liiri-Majava
LAKE JONS (2018)
Concert
Flow Festival, Helsinki
Stage design: Markus Kontiainen, Eino Manner, Mark Niskanen, Jooel Jons, Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
CEEBROLISTICS (2018)
Concert
Tavastia, Helsinki
Stage and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo and Matti Pentikäinen
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Kai Kuusisto
PAPERI-T x PEKKA KUUSISTO x SAMULI KOSMINEN (2017)
Concert
Savoy Theatre, Helsinki
Stage and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
PET (2017)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jaakko Pietiläinen
The performance was an attempt to contemplate the ubiquitous and indispensable nature of plastic through simple, repeated gestures that made use of the dimly lit stage. During the 8-day period, the performance began exactly at sunrise and slowly drew to a close by the time the sunset. By following the cycle of the diminishing sunlight, the performance got shorter and shorter as the days went by.
Working group: Mikko Hynninen, Eeva Muilu, Jaakko Pietiläinen, Jani-Matti Salo, Antti Salminen, Riikka Thitz, Masi Tiitta and Elina Vainio.
PYHÄ KAAOS (2017)
Performance
SIC Gallery, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Tuomas Linna
Pyhä Kaaos (A Holy Chaos) seeks out unknown futures, hiding spots, immersion, ruins, and new traditions. If the system only offers strict roles, Pyhä Kaaos begs to answer whether it is possible to get rid of them.
Working group: Sauli Sirviö, Elina Izarra, Are Nikkinen, Niroz Haji, Sawuli, Iita Järn, Jani-Matti Salo, Mark Niskanen, Tomi Visakko, liisa Raevaara, Marjo Savijärvi, Annika Turunen, Jonna Malaska, Katja Orpana, Laura Ihalainen
ONA KAMU (2017)
Concert
G Livelab, Helsinki
Lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
CIRKUS CIRKÖR: UNDER (2017)
Performance
Västmanlands Teater, Västerås
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Evelina Mattson
The performance Under embodies the human need to constantly defy gravity and the continuing conflict between man and weather.
Directed by: Olle Strandberg, Set design: Tami Salamon, Costume design: Lena Lindgren, Dramaturgy: Bodil Persson, Lighting design: Jani–Matti Salo, Composition and sound design: Andreas Tengblad, Composition and text to live music: Anna Ahnlund, Graphic design: Sepidar Hosseini, Producer: Hanna Lanneberg and Sara de Vylder, Ensemble: Henrik Agger, Anna Ahnlund, Klara Mossberg, Simon Wiborn, Methinee Wongtrakoon, Circus technicians: Vera Adler Bojsten, Vilhelm Montan Lindberg.
BINIYAM - BABY WE CHANGING CULTURE (2017)
Concert
URB17 Festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Stage and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Simo Karisalo
Music: Biniyam, Jaska Stenroth, Visuals: Dermot Gallagher, Sound: Joonas Pehrsson, Stage and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
URB LAB (2017)
Performance laboratory
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Sebastien Ramirez, Mark Niskanen, Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Mark Niskanen
URB Lab is a platform for artists-in-residence to experiment, research, and play with new ideas and concepts. URB Lab offers space that encourages new ways of thinking and doing while eliminating the constraints of production pressure. It also creates a unique opportunity for the public to observe the development of new works and to see artistic processes behind the scenes.
ARS17 (2017)
Exhibition
Museum of Contemporary Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Heikki Paasonen, Johanna Naalisvaara, Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: FNG / Pirje Mykkänen
ARS17 is a major exhibition of international contemporary art on the theme of digital revolution. The exhibition showcases artists of the new millennium and offer a fresh approach to contemporary art by also expanding the viewing experience into the online realm.
ONA KAMU - SE KAIKKI JÄÄ CONCERT (2017)
Concert
WHS Teatteri Union, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti and Mark Niskanen
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo
ONA KAMU KOLLEKTIIVI - PYRAMID (2017)
Performance
Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Pannuhalli, Helsinki
Spatial, lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Mark Niskanen
Ona Kamu Kollektiivi's Pyramid is the third and final part of a trilogy of performances launched in 2010. It centers on electronic music, motion, and light. The previous parts of the series were Elektromys (2010), composed of sounds of electronic signals of muscular nerve conduction studies, and At the Cellular Level (Solutasolla, 2011), Ona Kamu's first solo performance. The music heard in Pyramid is composed of ultrasound, infrasound, and electromagnetic waves recorded inside and on top of the Bosnian pyramids.
Directing, music, text, motion and singing: Ona Kamu, Motion and singing: Janne Marja-Aho, Spatial, light and video design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Jussi Matikainen, Costume design: Tiina Kaukanen, Recording of the pyramids: Heikki Savolainen, Producer: Ulrika Vilke, Production: Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Ona Kamu Kollektiivi
WAUHAUS - FLASHDANCE (2016)
Performance
Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Samuli Laine
Photos: Katri Naukkarinen, Jani-Matti Salo
Flashdance is a show where darkness takes a material form. It is a show in which a plastic entity – the size of the whole stage area – transforms into a moving darkness. This entity turns into sculptural landscapes and forms impossible for the human body. It literally overshadows the spectator. The audience is faced with their limited ability to see and the boundless terrain of their imagination. Flashdance evokes that which is mysterious and unconscious. In Flashdance darkness does not need to be scary, it can also be your friend.
On stage: Hanna Ahti, Wilhelm Grotenfelt, Johannes Purovaara
Off-stage: Laura Haapakangas, Anni Klein, Samuli Laine, Jarkko Partanen, Jani-Matti Salo, Heidi Soidinsalo
NOORA DADU - FAIL (2016)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: FNG / Petri Virtanen, Jani-Matti Salo
"In the spring of 2015, I created a performance for Theatre Takomo in Helsinki. It was entitled My Palestine, and in it, I solved the crisis between Palestine and Israel. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell the involved parties about the solution, with result that the occupation, siege, and violence continue to this day. I cannot say the performance was a success, but I nevertheless wanted to make a sequel. This is that sequel".
– Noora Dadu
The title of the piece is Fail. It is all about failure. No one who has achieved illumination has even been able to share their experience. No words ever truly hit their mark. The only truth is in being wrong and misunderstood. Fail is a confession and a tribute to failure.
Script and direction: Noora Dadu, On stage: Noora Dadu, Eeva Semerdjiev, Visitors: Emilia Kokko aka Turiseva Tissi, Teemu Mäki, Pauliina Feodoroff, Set design: Jaakko Pietiläinen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound: Joonas Pehrsson, Dramaturgical support: Teemu Mäki, Video: Jonatan Sundström, Mask: Riikka Virtanen, Eeva's costume: Linda Jännäri
EEVA MUILU - 〰 〰 〰 (2016)
Performance
Moving in November Festival, Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Helsinki
Lighting design: Heikki Paasonen and Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo
"I am fascinated by the vast potential that dance has on opening of an experiential and non-verbal realm, the sensory experience of the bodies as well as their transforming ability. We have wished to forget where the brain resides and that we consist of body parts. To rethink ourselves, blur our boundaries, merge and become a part of the ”whole". – Eeva Muilu
The artistic process of Eeva Muilu's latest work 〰 〰 〰 is inspired by a search for a dance, which is not directed by the choreographic mind, but which emerges from a different place – from the ability to listen and create space for the body. The starting points of the creation are questions related to the work of the dancer, to the creation of movement, and the creative process itself. In the dream vision of the performance, the dancers are part of a lively stage, one that vibrates and caresses.
Direction: Eeva Muilu, Dance: Joona Halonen, Anne Hiekkaranta, Anni Koskinen, Spatial design: Kaisa Rasila and Veera-Maija Murtola, Sound design: Mikko Hynninen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo and Heikki Paasonen, Costume design: Emilia Eriksson, Producer: Riikka Thitz
ELINA PIRINEN - CONCERTO UNDER WATERLILIES (2016)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting and spatial design: Heikki Paasonen and Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: FNG / Pirje Mykkänen
Concerto under Waterlilies is an on-stage autopsy of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 2, its inspiration arising from profound and beautiful investigation and understanding of the human condition.
Choreography: Elina Pirinen, Text: Heidi Väätänen, On stage: Aleksi Holkko, Suvi Kemppainen, Elina Pirinen, Heidi Väätänen, Niko Hallikainen, Pauli Riikonen, Lighting and spatial design: Heikki Paasonen ja Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Pauli Riikonen, Mentor: Niko Hallikainen, Costumes: Kaisa Kemikoski, Elina Pirinen, Heidi Väätänen
ANTTI HIETALA - KEVYTTÄ MIELIHYVÄÄ (2016)
Performance
Q-teatteri, Helsinki
Set and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo
Script & direction: Antti Hietala, Dramaturgy: Jani Volanen, Actors: Tommi Korpela, Minna Haapkylä, Jussi Nikkilä, Jani Volanen, Pia Andersson, Set & lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Johanna Storm, Costume design: Pirjo Liiri-Majava
ELINA PIRINEN - JUPITER (2016)
Performance
Full Moon Dance Festival, Imnet Arena, Pyhäjarvi
Spatial and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
The work is built around a carefully stylized flow of speech, which Pirinen has aestheticized and amplified from small details found in the performers’ personal texts. The mass of text, moving between truth and fantasy, is intensified in its beauty by a painterly field of light and live classical piano music.
Choreography: Elina Pirinen, Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Miksa Koponen, Costume design: Kaija Maunula, Dramaturgy: Heidi Väätänen, Pianist: Anna Laakso, Performers: Henri Haakana, Atte Herd, Helmi Järvensivu, Laura Kallas, Anni Pilhjärta, Elina Tähtelä and Aino Voutilainen, Producer: Rimpparemmi
POST-MJ ERA INSTITUTE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: WAKE (2015)
Performance
Baltic Circle Festival, Tiivistämö, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Tani Simberg
Ruumiinvalvojaiset (Wake) is a club night and a performance focusing on the influences of the death of Michael Jackson. The entity is inspired by the absence of the complex icon and the eras he represented, and the effects it has on mankind. In order to explore these effects, wake suggests an answer in collective celebration and mourning, from dusk till dawn. Dj's Niko Likainen, Kristiina Männikkö and Antti Salonen tune the space with music inspired by Michael Jackson and his legacy. Participants are asked to bring a concrete object or other offering to place it on the MJ memorial altar during the night. The Wake is organized by Post-MJ Era Institute of Consciousness, which is a research body run by individuals who grew up within the pop culture of the 80's and 90's. The mission behind the institute is to articulate the influences of the spectacle through the mythical terrain created by Michael Jackson.
Look-a-like Michael: Jan Havia, Sound design: Ilpo Heikkinen, Dancer: Anne Hiekkaranta, Direction: Ossi Koskelainen, Set design: Samuli Laine, Costume design: Suvi Matinaro, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Choreography and direction: Emmi Venna, Dance group: Emilia Kallioinen, Iiris Laakso, Marlon Moilanen, Corinne Mustonen, Pauliina Sjöberg
IMA IDUOZEE - PURPLE NIGHTS (2015)
Performance
Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Klara Scen, Stockholm, Sweden
Set and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Petra Hellberg
Purple Nights is the illusive landscape on which images of the past are revived and brought to life. Vanished, forgotten, and distorted memories are gradually unveiled in this dreamlike poem of utopia. Through physical acts of remembrance and invocation, the three performers manifest reflections of the past and present. It is the subtle bond between music, lighting, and movement design that merge into one, an open text for free association.
Choreography: Ima Iduozee, Set and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Hans Appelqvist, Costume design: Sven Haraldson, Dancers: Pekka Louhio, Matthew Branham, Erik Nyberg
AUNE KALLINEN - SÄDEKEHISTÄ - TÄYDELLISEN POLITIIKKA (2015)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Spatial and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: FNG / Pirje Mykkänen, Jani-Matti Salo
What do haloes tell about our physical and political being in the world? Of haloes - The politics of perfection is a performance that allows you to listen to a concert, have tea backstage, be present/absent, dream, and learn to see haloes.
Working group: Aune Kallinen, Jenni Koistinen, Laura Murtomaa, Jani-Matti Salo, Ragni Grönblom-Jolly, Gesa Piper, Arttu Palmio, Katri Puranen, Hanna Ahti, Tuomas Norvio, Heikki Laitinen, Daniel Nyman, Ville Kabrell, Eeti Nieminen, Jonathan Hilli, Nicolas Rehn, Katarina Angeria
POST-MJ ERA INSTITUTE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: NEVERLAND (2015)
Performance
URB15 Festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Mati Salo
Photos: Samuli Laine, Jani-Matti Salo
Neverland is a gathering for honoring the life work of Michael Jackson and for a creative reassessment of its importance.
Look-a-like Michael: Jan Havia, Sound design: Ilpo Heikkinen, Dancer: Anne Hiekkaranta, Direction: Ossi Koskelainen, Set design: Samuli Laine, Costume design: Suvi Matinaro, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Choreography and direction: Emmi Venna, Dance group: Emilia Kallioinen, Iiris Laakso, Marlon Moilanen, Corinne Mustonen, Pauliina Sjöberg, Pietari Vappula.
JANNE SAARAKKALA - PUHUVA PÄÄ (2015)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Heikki Paasonen and Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, FNG/Pirje Mykkänen
Concept and performance: Janne Saarakkala, Actress and audience participation: Helena Ryti, Set and costume design: Paula Koivunen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo & Heikki Paasonen, Sound: Joonas Pehrsson
NOORA DADU - MINUN PALESTIINANI (2015)
Performance:
Teatteri Takomo and Ryhmäteatteri, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Mitro Härkönen
My Palestine (Minun Palestiinani) is Noora Dadu’s passionate and moving testimony about her father’s land, the promised and occupied land of Palestine. It is one woman’s journey to her roots. My Palestine was born out of frustration with all the simplifying and polarizing, disconnected scraps of information that year after year repeat stereotypes of the middle east and keep up the myth of an eternal, unresolvable conflict. Dadu unveils the structures behind the conflict and gives us facts, showing how it was in the past and continues in the present. She wants to give answers. The staggeringly intense performance is spiced up with piercing humor. It sketches the broader context and tells about the people living their lives with it. Noora Dadu and Iida-Maria Heinonen carry the story forward side by side.
Script & direction: Noora Dadu, Performers: Noora Dadu and Iida-Maria Heinonen, Set design: Jaakko Pietiläinen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound: Joonas Outakoski, Videos: Teemu Mäki, Producers: Noora Dadu, Sara Nyberg / Teatteri Takomo
WANG & RAMIREZ - FELAHIKUM (2015)
Performance
Théâtre National De Chaillot, Paris, France
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, StudiONE
Direction and choreography: Sébastien Ramirez, Honji Wang and Rocio Molina, Dancers: Honji Wang and Rocio Molina, Sound design: Jean-Philippe Barrios, Set design: Thomas Penanguer, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Costume design: Soo-Hi Song, Technical director: Cyril Mulon, producer: Dirk Korell
HELSINKI BAROQUE ORCHESTRA (2014)
Concert
Helsinki Music Centre, Concert Hall
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
MIA WENNERSTRAND: COURT OF HELBURG (2014)
Baltic Circle Festival, Teatteri Toivo, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
ANTTI HIETALA - IHANAT IHMISET (2014)
Q-teatteri, Helsinki
Set and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Pate Pesonius
Script & direction: Antti Hietala, Dramaturgy: Jani Volanen, Actors: Elina Hietala, Jussi Nikkilä, Minna Haapkylä, Jani Volanen, Set & lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Timo Muurinen, Costume design: Pirjo Liiri-Majava
EEVA MUILU, SATU HERRALA, ANNA MUSTONEN & MASI TIITTA - NATURE DANCES (2014)
Performance
Helsinki Festival, Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Pannuhalli, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki
Lighting and spatial design: Heikki Paasonen and Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Timo Wright
These flowers before me contain the dream of a dance. It could be named ‘the light falling on white flowers’. a dance that would be a subtle translation of the light and the whiteness.
– Isadora Duncan: The dance of the future (1903)
Nature Dances is a stage collaboration between choreographers Satu Herrala, Eeva Muilu, Anna Mustonen and Masi Tiitta. It explores the nature of dance, nature in dance, and the nature of four artists meeting to make a dance together. Throughout the history of dance, the relationship of the dancer's body and its movements to nature and what is considered natural has been in a state of change. With Nature Dances the choreographer-dancers want to participate in this continuum dance the nature of 2014.
Choreography, performance: Eeva Muilu, Masi Tiitta, Anna Mustonen, Satu Herrala, Lighting and spatial design: Heikki Paasonen & Jani-Matti Salo, Costume design: Laura Haapakangas, Production: Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Helsinki festival, Wilderness dance
ONA KAMU - SEKSIÄ KLO 16.25 (2014)
The Finnish National Theatre, Omapohja, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo
Music, choreography & performance: Ona Kamu, Performers & script: Ona Kamu, Tero Jaartti, Tarja Heinula, Sound design: Joonas Pehrsson, Set & costume design: Markus Tsokkinen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Producer: Ulrika Vilke & Emilia Liesmäki
MIKKO HYVÖNEN - ORGANIC SYNTHETIC (2014)
Performance
Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki
Spatial and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo
“I love watching trees and birds, at least the ones that are in the air. Sometimes I wish I were an animal instead of a human being, but at the same time I'm allergic to pollen, animals, fruits and nuts. What kind of a love-hate relationship is this? What can humans be in the middle ground between nature on one hand and artificiality on the other; between culture, art, entertainment, science, gene manipulation and robotics?” - Mikko Hyvönen
Mikko Hyvönen makes different versions of his piece Organic Synthetic for theatre venues and forests/parks/wasteland locations.
Choreography, performance: Mikko Hyvönen, Sound design: Pauli Riikonen, Costume design: Henna-Riikka Taskinen, Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo, Production: Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Lehtovaara & companions, Mikko Hyvönen
NIINA HOSIASLUOMA & TEEMU MÄKI - TEOREEMA (2014)
Performance
Teatteri Takomo, Helsinki
Set design: Teemu Mäki and Jani-Matti Salo
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Jaakko Pietiläinen
Direction: Teemu Mäki & Niina Hosiasluoma, Performers: Noora Dadu, Eero Enqvist, Joanna Haartti, Pinja Hahtola, Hanna Raiskinmäki, Choreography: Jenni Urpilainen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Costume design: Paula Koivunen, Set design: Teemu Mäki & Jani-Matti Salo, Co-production: Circus Maximus & Teatteri Takomo
MIKKO HYVÖNEN - ORGANIC SYNTHETIC / ENTERTAINMENTS (2013)
Performance
Forêt de soignes, Brussels, Belgium
Spatial and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
"I love watching trees and birds, at least the ones that are in the air. Sometimes I wish I were an animal instead of a human being, but at the same time i'm allergic to pollen, animals, fruit and nuts. What kind of a love-hate relationship is this? What can humans be in the middle ground between nature on one hand and artificiality on the other; between culture, art, entertainment, science, gene manipulation and robotics?" - Mikko Hyvönen
Mikko Hyvönen makes different versions of his piece Organic Synthetic for theatre venues and forests/parks/wasteland locations.
Choreography, performance: Mikko Hyvönen, Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Pauli Riikonen, Production: Zodiak - Zenter for New Dance, Lehtovaara & companions, Mikko Hyvönen
VAPAA AIKA: TÄNÄÄN TOMI JÄTTÄÄ TYTTÖYSTÄVÄNSÄ (2013)
URB13 Festival, Stoa, Helsinki
Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Liina Aalto-Setälä
Tomi’s got an unpleasant evening ahead.
Tonight he is going to meet his girlfriend and break up.
He needs to think of something to do during the day.
And keep his cool.
What does it look like?
Working group: Tero Hytönen, Simeoni Juoperi, Aleksi Kyllönen, Tatu Leinonen, Tuomas Määttä, Jani-Matti Salo, Tuomo Tapanila, Antti Uimonen, Juho Vuoristo
CHARLES BAUDELAIRE: PAHAN KUKAT (2013)
Kajaanin Runoviikko, Kajaani City Theare, Kajaani
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
Direction: Pauliina Hulkko, Actor: Jussi Johnsson, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
PIMEYS (2013-2017)
Concert
Korjaamo, Vaunusali, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
URHO (2013)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Set and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Frank A. Unger
Urho is here. Urho is watching. Urho is wondering. The old ghost in a new body questions our conception of leadership, politics, gender, and “sisu”.
Text: Henriikka Himma, Actress: Alma Pöysti, Direction: Enrico Stolzenburg, Sound design: Kristian Ekholm, Set and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Costume design: Monika Hartl, Photos and videos: Frank A. Unger, Choreography: Carl Knif, Petri Tuominen, Producer: Anna-Emilie Lindberg
THE FINNISH CHAMBER OPERA - AKSELI (2013)
Performance
Sibelius Hall, Lahti
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
Libretto: Pekka Hako, Conductor: Ville Matvejeff, Akseli: Jorma Hynninen, Direction: Vilppu Kiljunen, Set design: Kimmo Viskari, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Orchestra: Avanti!, Production: Risto Hirvonen / Finnish Chamber Opera
LEHMUS MURTOMAA - PASTORAALISINFONIA (2012)
Performance
Teatteri Takomo, Helsinki
Spatial and lighting design, performer: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Kira Leskinen
Already in the Classical era, the symphony had become the musical form through which composers sought to harness the full extent of their creative power. Directed by Lehmus Murtomaa, this through-composed performance is a journey from the depths of a tiny human being to the boundless universe. Created by two musicians and one lighting designer/musician, the work explores the meaning of life, the human condition, and humanity's place within nature and the cosmos. The performance embraces harmony and disharmony, vibration, and gratitude—emerging from these very themes. Its musical language is organic, electronic, and experimental. The orchestra consists of three people, a computer, light, the stage, an exercise bicycle, and a variety of other assisting forces.
Direction: Lehmus Murtomaa, Sound design: Tuomas Norvio, Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo, Performers: Lehmus Murtomaa, Tuomas Norvio, Jani-Matti Salo
JUNI KLEIN & HEIDI SOISDINSALO - HEIDI KLEIN (2012)
Performance installation
Baltic Circle Festival, Tiivistämö, Helsinki
Spatial and lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Kira Leskinen
Heidi Klein is a performance about names. It is a personal story about the lives of Heidi Soidinsalo (formerly Lind) and Anni Klein (formerly Ojanen). Both artists changed their last names for this performance. During the performance, Klein attempts to create a new artistic identity to better suit her new name by surfing on the internet and browsing through e-mails, videos, and websites found via her personal computer. Soidinsalo tries to deconstruct Johanna Spyri's children's story "Heidi" using noise music and sound art. The audience is also given a choice of two other optional soundtracks; philosophers Tuomas Nevanlinna and Jukka Relander discussing the performance's themes in the form of a radio talk show, and Johanna Spyri's story of Heidi in its unblemished form. Each member of the audience is given a headset so that they can freely choose what they would like to listen to. The visual and auditive collage attempts to create a metaphor for the human identity's multilayered nature and parallel structure.
Concept & performance: Anni Klein (formerly Ojanen) & Heidi Soidinsalo (formerly Lind), Lighting & spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo, Video design: Ville Vierikko
BETRAYAL AT BESPIN (2012-2013)
Concert
Savoy Theatre, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Marco Manzi Photography
THE FINNISH CHAMBER OPERA - FIVE WOMEN IN A CHAPEL (2012)
Performance
Helsinki Festival, Sellosali, Espoo
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Nina Siven
Direction: Vilppu Kiljunen, Set design: Sampo Pyhälä, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Costume design: Marja Uusitalo
Composer: Uljas Pulkkis, Script: Arto Seppälä, Libretto: Erik Sjöderblom, Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Lapland, Conductor: John Storgårds, Soloists: Hedvig Paulig, Eeva-Maria Kopp, Virpi Räisänen, Riikka Rantanen, Eeva-Kaarina Vilke, Producer: Risto Hirvonen / Finnish Chamber Opera
IMA IDUOZEE - THIS IS THE TITLE (2012)
Performance
Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm, Sweden
Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Petra Hellberg, Jani-Matti Salo
Choreography, performance: Ima Iduozee, Sound design: Kasperi Laine, Lighting & spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo, Assistant of lighting designer: Milla Martikainen, Coaching: Kaisa Torkkel
WURM (2012-2014)
Concert
Pop Up Art House, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
AUNE KALLINEN, LEHMUS MURTOMAA & JENNI KOISTINEN - YHTEISKUNNALLISTA LIIKETTÄ (2012)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Spatial design: Aune Kallinen and Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, FNG / Pirje Mykkänen
Yhteiskunnallista liikettä (Social movement) is a performative attempt to understand the potential for a polyphonic, conflicting, gentle, carnivalistic, and autonomous community or society.
Consept & performers: Aune Kallinen, Lehmus Murtomaa and Jenni Koistinen, Performers: Seidi Haarla, Pirjo Häkkinen, Aune Kallinen, Maija Kauhanen, Jenni Koistinen, Pirjo Koljonen, Laura Murtomaa, Anne Nimell, Fine art: Jaana Kokko, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound: Maura Korhonen, Glen Loit, Spatial design: Aune Kallinen and Jani-Matti Salo
LIVE ART SOCIETY - NAPOLEON PINK HORSE (2012)
Performance
Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting and spatial design: Heikki Paasonen and Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Heikki Paasonen, FNG / Pirje Mykkänen
Napoleon Pink Horse works like a band. A dancer, actor, writer, and musician form a quartet, where each artist’s area of expertise is approached as an instrument.
Performers: Elina Pirinen, Tuukka Vasama, Miikka Ahlman, Timo Heinonen, Lighting and spatial design: Heikki Paasonen & Jani-Matti Salo, Live sound: Timo Muurinen, Producer: Eeva Kemppi / Live Art Society
VELI LEHTOVAARA & MARIA FERREIRA SILVA - LIGHT AS A FEATHER, GREEN AS AN APPLE (2012)
Performance
Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Pannuhalli, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Jani-Matti Salo, Elina Brotherus
This duet performed by Zodiak’s house choreographer Veli Lehtovaara and Portuguese dancer Maria Ferreira silva is a choreographic collage delving into roman catholic iconography and Christian myth. Well-known biblical images, characters and events are presented in mold-breaking ways, yielding unexpected insights into the relationship between iconography and choreography. Bringing together dancers from protestant Finland and catholic Portugal, it is a meeting of two cultures, offering two different perspectives on Christian tradition. the piece explores its theme in a respectful yet playful manner.
Choreography: Veli Lehtovaara & Maria Ferreira Silva, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Oula Susi, Costume design: Veera-Maija Murtola
HARRI KUORELAHTI - 13 (2011)
Performance
Theatre Academy, Helsinki
Spatial, lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Sanna Käsmä, Jani-Matti Salo
Choreography: Harri Kuorelahti, Spatial, lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Timo Muurinen, Costume design: Metti Nordin
WANG & RAMIREZ - TRUE BLUE MARKET (2011)
Performance
URB11 Festival, Stoa, Helsinki
Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Kira Leskinen
True Blue Market takes a close look at Finish society with the collaboration of dancers from the far north. The situation evokes a public space, while the choreographic language - springing from the encounter of two opposed choreographic universes - shifts between abstraction and metaphor.
Choreography: Sébastien Ramirez and Hyun-Jung Wang, Lighting and spatial design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Jean-Philippe Barrios, Costume design: Annette Tamminen, Producers: Mikael Aaltonen (URB/Kiasma) and Dirk Korell (Moov'n Aktion)
ONA KAMU - SOLUTASOLLA (2011)
Performance
Teatteri Takomo, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Tanja Ahola
Concept, performance: Ona Kamu, Dramaturgy: Minna Harjuniemi, Set design: Markus Tsokkinen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Joonas Pehrsson, Costume design: Annette Tamminen, Producer: Emilia Liesmäki
AUNE KALLINEN & LEHMUS MURTOMAA - KANSALLINEN HANKE (2010)
Performance
/theatre.now festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Petri Summanen
Kansallinen hanke (National Project) reminisces about current and well-worn Finnish myths, remembers them wrong and makes up the rest. It finds and creates national paradoxes. It puts a log into a woman's hand, removes her national dress, takes her money, language, gender, and continent and then gravely asks which part of the Western imperial heritage belongs to Finland. And then we find ourselves in Africa, the birthplace of man, in the beginning of time and the core of the Finnish national soul. Pop music plays and the American flag flies.
The performance centres on the ideas of being separate and connected, being involved and uninvolved. It invites the audience to drink coffee and eat traditional carelian pastry while seeking a postmodern approach to issues related to (national) identity, community, and coming together: How has the identity of those in power and those looking for power been built? Who gets heard today, in this country, in this world? Who is left without a voice? Who can vote and on what? Who and what do the defence forces defend? In what way is Finland my home country? And why does she need to undress?
Consept & performers: Aune Kallinen and Lehmus Murtomaa, Fine art: Jaana Kokko, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
THE FINNISH CHAMBER OPERA - THREE SISTERS (2010)
Performance
The Finnish National Opera, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
Direction: Kristina Helin, Conductor: Aapo Häkkinen, Orchestra: Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Solists: Tuomas Katajala, Seppo Lampela, Lumen Valo, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Producer: Risto Hirvonen / Finnish Chamber Opera
ONA KAMU: ELEKTROMYS (2010)
Concert
Flow Festival, Suvilahti, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
UNITED SNAKES: ALL MATTERS DEMO (2010)
Performance
UBR10 Festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design, performer: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Teemu Mäki
Direction: Arja Tiili & Teemu Mäki, Performers: Arja Tiili, Petri Kanerva, Kasperi Laine, Kaisa Niemi and Jani-Matti Salo, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound design: Kasperi Laine
FLOW MO - RESPONSE (2009)
Performance
URB09 Festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
Response looks at the possibilities of combining the movement of dance with moving image. The work’s final form is achieved as the re - sult of an open process where each member of the artist group has an equal chance of affecting the end product. Growing side by side with urb, Flow-Mo approaches breakdance from a new perspective. the interplay between dancers in terms of improvisation, the mood of a certain moment, and the reactions of the audience are explored. Video designer Petri Ruikka approaches breakdance through moving image. He explores the real-time merging of image with move - ment, and the whole that this creates. At what point are dialogue and a common space between the two created?
Dance and choreography: Flow-Mo, Video design: Petri Ruikka, Sound design: Taneli Bruun, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
URB CLOSING PARTY - RANCID ROCKERS (2009)
Performance
URB09 Festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Petri Summanen
MYLLYTEATTERI - SAARI (2009)
Performance
Espa stage, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Heli Sorjanen
Direction: Miira Sippola, Set design & costumes: Paula Koivunen, Sound design: Johanna Storm, Music: Johanna Juhola, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
REIJA WÄRE - OF(F) COURSE (2009)
Performance
Alexander Theatre, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Jani-Matti Salo
Direction & choreography: Reija Wäre, Sound design/dj: Risto Roman, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Performers: Teemu Kyytinen, Dennis Nylund, Sarah Hirn, Leevi Huhtamaa, Maria Ylipää, Sari Siikander, Milla Koistinen, Sara Saviola, Jussi Väänänen, Reija Wäre
LIISA KYRÖNSEPPÄ & JANI-MATTI SALO - FLUID LIGHT (2008)
Façade lighting
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Photo: Petri Summanen
DENNIS NYLYND, REIJA WÄRE - ÄTÄ (2008)
Performance
URB08 Festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Petri Summanen
BBoy Ätä’s roots are in a basement in Oulu where he used to practice moves, but more recently he’s been touring the club scene of New York and battles around the world. His debut solo Ätä depicts the energetic bboy’s relationship with himself and the surrounding world, and gives thought to live in general as well as bboying as a form of expression. The piece combines this with the perspective of an experienced choreographer, Reija Wäre, to shed light on how an individual engages in a form of competitive subculture, as well as how breakdance, as a vibrantly assertive, creative, and charisma-demanding form of self-expression, comes across to the audience.
Direction: Reija Wäre, Choreography: Dennis Nylund and Reija Wäre, Performer: Dennis Nylund, Sound design: Risto Roman, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Puppeteers: Sara Hirn and Reija Wäre
FLOW MO - OVET (2008)
Performance
Dansens Hus, Stora Scen, Stockholm
Lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photos: Petri Summanen
Ovet – behind doors presents six brief moments within six unique realities. The process that lead to the work was initiated by the observation and interpretation of the individual and the multi-faceted reality. The goal that was set was to explore the motion of b-boying and find new interpretations and ways of expression within that motion and break clichés often related to the style of dance. In this work, b-boying is presented in the form it originated in before the commercial exposure and exploitation in the 1980s – as a solo dance.
Dance & choreography: Flow-Mo, Lighting and video design: Jani-Matti Salo
RINNERADIO: VÄRÄHTELYÄ! (2007)
Pixelache-festival, Kiasma Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo
Photo: Antti Ahonen
Musicians: Juuso Hannukainen, Aleksi Myllykoski, Iro Haarla, Tapani Rinne, Verneri Lumi, Visuals: Merja Nieminen, Lighting design: Jani-Matti Salo, Sound: Timo Muurinen