SAAL Biennaal 2025 | Netti Nüganen "Ash, horizon, riding a house"

Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Tallinn

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Single tickets are available at €17/€22 until 8.08
From 9.08, prices increase to €22/€25.

In a world where land, language and folklore have become commodities, the only place you're welcome back is outside - where greenery is no longer the primary reference. Instead, uneven floorboards, illusion mirrors and trickster steps form profitable landscapes.

Nüganen, Kisling and Sova, as a reaction, open up their ice-manufacturing enterprise. In the backdrop of nightmares and constant dripping they navigate between multiple perspectives on locality, accompanied by CDJs and a banjo. At Earth magnitude they are specks of dust, and next to geological time as-if on speed. They trace locality from places where the influence of one dominant culture has made imported goods part of folklore, while the word 'local' still adds value when making choices as a tourist. "Ash, horizon, riding a house" is a series of chain-reactions that invites the audience to envision a belonging - one that cannot be seen from here. It must be imagined.

Netti Nüganen (she/her/doomer) uses the performative moment to question what forms of spectatorship are needed and what’s at stake. Establishing connections with the past, Nüganen forms an intentional look upon the present, wishing to extend the perspective towards the future. Treating everything known with careful deconstruction, she reshapes storytelling – using this method to operate in the gaps between recognisable signs and language.
Nüganen’s works have been shown a. o. at festivals such as My Wild Flag, Batard, Pre-Urbaines, Lisbon Film Festival and ImPulsTanz and at KIM? Contemporary Art Centre, Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Lewisham Art Gallery and TQW. Next to that, she has been touring since 2017 with Florentina Holzinger’s performances.


Concept, choreography: Netti Nüganen
Performance: Netti Nüganen, Pire Sova, Michaela Kisling
Sound design: Michaela Kisling
Scenography, costume: Pire Sova
Light design: Klimentina Li
Text: Netti Nüganen
Dramaturgical support: Bouchra Lamsyeh
House costume: Zody Burke
Ice moulds: Madlen Hirtentreu
Production management: partner in crime, Kaie Küünal

Thank you to: Valentin Alfery, Gibrana Cervantes, TURBO residency Impulstanz, ERROR residency CDMX, Arvo Pärt Centre
A production by Netti Nüganen in co-production with Tanzquartier Wien and Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Tallinn.
Supported by: the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sports, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Valmiera Summer Theatre Festival
Premiere: 2.05.2025, Vienna


Duration: 90’
In English

The performances are accessible by wheelchair. If possible, please let us know in advance if you are coming with a mobility aid!

SAAL Biennaal

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