A rubber-beater tentatively hangs above an amplified glockenspiel. Canned Laughter ignites some kind of signal processing. Supposedly it is coming from the three sticker emblazoned laptops positioned in and L on the stage. This “tutti” start brings all the performers to the stage to share an improv together. As with much improv, it is ephemeral and tied to having experienced it, though the programmatic choice (of placing it at the start) creates an opportunity for “call backs” and foreshadowing with the rest of the evening’s programme. Shy smiles and supportive glances confirm this idea.

A transformation into a goose is taking place – hopping from loveheart to loveheart drawn in chalk on a large wooden board. Tape plays; Running around Töölönlahti it seems, from the distinctive tunnel under the railway station [Brrrrr ch-k-ch-k tssss-kah] if you know you know. The performer Ján Števuliak, has put on 4-inch heels, and is adeptly hopping on one-leg while tooting on a bulbously-spikey red-clarined. Later, laying on the shakti mat, the pointed heel punches buttons on a sampler. At this moment, their voice is heard in the running track (that has been continuously providing an exhausting beat of exercise): “When I was younger I wanted to be a either a priest, or a girl”.

With a professorly pout, Richard Hronský introduces us to the western-carpathian-shepherd-flute, the fujara. Immediately accompanied by the retort, that his is a practice that attempts to decolonise the instrument, from its folkloric bondage, a subversion of the nationalism inherent to (perhaps all) folk instruments. The performance is lathered in blue, the fujara standing at almost 2-meters tall, renders Richard seated. Gentle harmonic licks and what I assume is the passing of air through that trunk are spatialised around the room. Sojourning into the crowd, Richard takes time to pirouette slowly before returning, making sure that the instrument doesn’t hit the Toinen Kerros ceiling.

A call back to the opening of the concert, canned laughter, Semot Semot Posa are stationed by a table with laptop and synth. It’s a set up that can be disproportionately a feast for ears rather than eyes, but subversion is certainly the name of the game here; The duo play funny seriously, and the serious funnily – seemingly, the performance is a play in every sense. Beyond sound, Semot Semot Posa’s jabbing of each other followed by failed attempts to hold back laughter is infectious. Pat-a-cake and acrobatic lifts bring the play away from the table, confirming us to conclude that hilarity and humility bring the comedic into the real of the sublime.

Skinny arms bent like drums, a thin line of dancers has formed for the ultimate act of the night. On a smaller station, and thus huddled much closer together are Climara Forte. Not being one to typically comment on technical aspects of a performer, I feel here an exception must be made as the sound of this set in particular has left the sound world of the computer. A small vintage amplifier sits below the desk of the duo, amplified into the larger PA of the space – this creates a mono-sound environment of a club. It is immense and detailed, dirty and pristine. An uncompromising and well tuned collision of Spoogadelic-suomisoundi and DIY Hyperpop in an intoxicating mixture, It’s no wonder the remaining audience have been charmed into dance.

 

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I’m struggling to encapsulate in words what I liked so much about this event – I’m reminded that music doesn’t need to follow any particular theatrical form, the experience becomes its own narrative. As we approach “Friends Day” (as it’s known here in Finland, Valentine’s Day elsewhere), I can’t help but reflect on this concert with it in mind. Featuring a tetraptych of 4 different performances from Finland and Slovakia, each a left turn from the last, emphasised by stark staging and lighting changes.

Having tried to simply go through the scenes of the performance one by one, I am finding this uncompromising programming to not translate well to the page. That is to say, the experience of these changes was at times stark, at others irreverent but nevertheless a complete whole did emerge.

It is often the case that I have tried to figure out a piece as I’m experiencing it, indeed, that is half the joy of experimental and performance art for me – to notice these unconventional aesthetic choices and understand the rationale behind them. In the case of Kippis Kokeilu, I felt a strong evocation from my fellow audience members who represented, for the most part, different portions of the general underground music and art scene in Helsinki. Perhaps it is the state of the art, that our audiences and social groups are made up almost entirely of other artists, so our presence plays the ever important function of support rather than consumption.

To be clear, I like this. I feel that it leads to art which has no interest in pretence because the audience aren’t here to be entertained. We are more interested in seeing what our community members are up to, what are the struggles and ideas they are dealing with, and how they play this out in a 30 minute set.

This approach selects for more autobiographical art, art about what our individual experience of life is like. BUT, there is a more important meta function besides that – to create a reason for gathering, a celebration of our humanities, a Cheers to our own experience!

And this may sound a little hopeless, but what was served at Kippis Kokkeilu contained within poetry, humour, provocation, history lessons, dancing lessons etc. affirming to me that friendship is our most important resource, one that must be practiced through shared experience.

Hyvää ystävänpäivää kaikille!

 

KIPPIS KOKEILU

17.11.2025 | Toinen Kerros (Äänen Lumo), Helsinki

Performers

Climara Forte: drumbrute impact, computer, Digitone, volca keys and fx wizard – footwork

Semot Semot Posa + Io: laptop, korg synth, some guitar pedals, analogue mixers, guitar, violin, voice

Ján Števuliak: wind instruments – clarinet, 2 shawm pipes, organ pipes
computer – pre-recorded material, live processing

Richard Hronský: fujara, computer – ambient, post-folk, field recordings

u.n.o.: bird flute, xylophone, harmonica, sampler, synthesiser