25.1.2025 at 11–17
1st floor, Kiasma Theatre
Tickets: 22 € / 20 € / 12 €
Entry with the same day’s exhibition ticket for Kiasma or a Museum Card. Tickets can be purchased online in advance or from Kiasma’s info desk when arriving to the museum.
In English

Come join us at Kiasma Theatre to celebrate the New Year and the new season with dance, music, and drinks! Together, let’s make Basically an unforgettable start to the year.

About

Basically is an ongoing live project by artist and choreographer Nikima Jagudajev. It is structured as a choreographic game shaped by the performers and visitors. They shape the space with elements such as live music, food, a mythopoetic deck of cards called POWDER, the design process of the Arcane Clothing collection, non-linear dance choreographies and ample unstructured time that leaves room for contingency.Whether aware of it or not, the visitors co-create this process of worldbuilding simply by being in the space. The Kiasma Theatre will thus become a playground held by overlapping games, whose rules vary in opacity and consequence.

Jagudajev implements their ‘re-schooling’ concept – a shared, prefigurative art practice inspired by playful ways students subvert the educational system. Some of the most creative and heartfelt acts of our early education, like self-organized play, flirting, passing notes, were extra-curricular yet located within the institution. Basically is a space where stuff like that happens. It is a hybrid production site of music, clothing and relationships, between a residency space, a stage, and a schoolyard — a context within which to practice and perform.

The Finish premiere of Basically invites visitors into one moment in a long-term, long-form megawork. The architecture and theatrical elements of the Kiasma Theatre add a layer that Basically has not yet encountered. It is always accumulating material, layers, experiences, so every new element, such as the city, venue, or the team’s interests and skills all add to and remake the constellation.

Visitors come and go as they please, the work has no clear beginning or end. Staying for a while is recommended!

Nikima Jagudajev

Nikima Jagudajev (b.1990) is a US born, Austrian/Uzbek artist and choreographer. Their performance based work is a collaborative act of worldbuilding organised by complex sets of open-ended rules. Their mythopoeic worlds—made up of elements like live music, food, hanging out, and formal dance phrases—provide a context for unexpected encounters to take place, encounters that make and remake a shared space in strange and unpredictable ways. Jagudajev’s work has been presented internationally at venues such as MoMA PS1, mumok, The Whitney Museum, Bergen Kunsthall, and WIELS.

Curatorial background

Presented in collaboration with IMMATERIAL, the performance program curated by Michelangelo Miccolis as part of Mexico City’s Material Art Fair, this collaboration builds on Miccolis’s longstanding support of Jagudajev’s evolving practice, which began in 2019 with the world premiere of The Dentist at Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva. Since then, Miccolis has supported Jagudajev’s subsequent projects, including Meadow MMXX CDMX for IMMATERIAL in 2020 and Basically at Shedhalle Zürich in 2021 and 2022.

Founded by Michelangelo Miccolis in 2017, IMMATERIAL focuses on advancing live, process-based practices, encouraging experiences that unfold over time. IMMATERIAL is now a nomadic performance platform that continues to be connected to the fair while expanding its international reach. This partnership between IMMATERIAL and Kiasma Theatre reflects a shared commitment to curating performance as an evolving and sprawling form. For this presentation, Kiasma Theatre has invited Miccolis to collaborate with Jonna Strandberg, Kiasma’s Chief Performance Curator, building on their shared vision of performance as a living, changing experience.

This unique presentation of Basically reaffirms Kiasma Theatre’s dedication to time-based art and invites Finnish audiences to experience the work as it continues to grow and evolve.

Credits

Curators: Michelangelo Miccolis & Jonna Strandberg

The class of ’25
Concept, direction & choreography: Nikima Jagudajev
Muscal Collaboration and Technical Direction: Jordan Balaber & Lester St. Louis
Dramaturgy: Louise Trueheart
With: Samuel Baidoo (dance, textile, light), Matilda Cobanli (dance, food), Minna Kaaronen (dance), Kalle Lähde(dance), Vilja Mihalovsky (dance), Maria Muehombo (MIMI) (music, movement) Salomon Leonard Poutsma (music, movement), Lester St. Louis (music, movement), Louise Trueheart (dance), Ezra Fieremans (dance), nick von kleist (nvk) (food, movement).
Musical Contribution: Amina Szecsödy, June Jenkins
Video: Matti Aikio
Graphic Design: Laurel Atwell, Zöe Field
Powder Deck Contribution: Ayomoy Arrono, Laurel Atwell, Samuel Baidoo, Sanne Dodier, Nina Emge, Olivia Erlanger, Che Go Eun, Zoë Field, Polina Filipova, Padyn Humble, Melanie Matthieu, Abigail McNamara, Hana Miletić, Saye Oyama, Salomon Leonard Poutsma, Lester St. Louis, Ra Tack, Wes Taylor, nick von kleist (nvk), Maïra Villena, Petra Webb, Amalia Wiatr Lewis, Joanna Zabielska
Mix and Master:  Chris Pawlusek
Production: Hiros
Residencies: Decoratelier, kunstenfestivaldesarts2021, workspacebrussels, Frankfurt LAB, Im_Flieger

Partners: Kiasma Theatre, IMMATERIAL, mumok, Accelerator, Dansenshus, Bergen Kunsthall, WIELS, Dhaka Art Summit, Oktoberdans, BIT Teatergarasjen, Shedhalle Zürich, KAAP, de Brakke Grond, Enter Art Fair

The event is sponsored by Kyrö Distillery & Ohakune drinks