Niko Hallikainen: Downward Ascension

Film and Live Performance

Saturday 12.9. at 5:30 PM, Alō

Niko Hallikainen's new cinematic poetry performance premieres! Downward Ascension is an epic poem experienced alongside a 65-minute slide film. The film is a collage of material collected from the back alleys of cinema and television.

Just as global power hierarchies are collapsing, a cryptic corporeal super-system is simultaneously preparing to awaken an unprecedented spiritual vibrational level.

The poet is a raw animal living on the refuse of Hollywood.

This performance creates a space for a new kind of sensual energy, which comes alive amidst the collapse of global dominant structures. Ancient societal problems are indeed worsening, and the polycrisis feels as total as physical death, but at the same time, this metamorphosis brings much room for a different kind of boom – a kind of reverse kundalini awakening, because breath truly is a way to re-fuck the world; to mine our own luck from dark hiding places.

"When they sink down, we turn upside down."

Niko Hallikainen is a Helsinki-based performance poet and novelist. His performances have been seen at New York's Performa Biennial, the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Oslo's Black Box Teater, and Helsinki's Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. Hallikainen was awarded as Helsinki Writer of the Year 2023 and received the City of Helsinki Artist Award 2024.

The performance is in English