Layers in The Peace Machine is an immersive and multidisciplinary media-installation, entangling technology and art. Layers in the Peace Machine is one of the main productions of Oulu Cultural Capital year 2026. I have been working on the project since 2021.
Based on the literary work ”Peace Machine” by late Timo Honkela, the installation portrays peace as a dynamic process, that shifts and evolves with the interaction from the participants.
Layers in The Peace Machine encourages the participant to reflect on their own relationship with peace and peace-related questions. What sort of memories, images and emotions arise? How to work towards a more peaceful world in everyday life?
Transforming multiple spaces at the Oulu City Hall, the artwork sheds light on the multifaceted concept of “building peace”. It offers diverse means to interact with the installation and other participants, through language, movement, senses and cognition.
The artwork is structured to emphasise the effects of these interactions on the work itself and other participants’ experiences. Through these means Layers in the Peace Machine is part of the dynamic discourse about actions, choices, mutual interactions and power, which all greatly affect the processes of peace.”
The installation will be free of charge and open from January to December 2026 at Oulu City Hall.
Working group
Ekho Collective / Calvin Guillot, Essi Huotari, Vertti Luostarinen, Saara-Henriikka Mäkinen, Sini Parikka, Ilmari Pesonen, Olivia Pohjola, Iina Taijonlahti and Timo Tikka.
Production Ulla Viskari-Perttu / Oulu Culture Foundation
Picture Ilmari Pesonen / Ekho Collective
https://oulu2026.eu/en/programme/culture-programme/layers-in-the-peace-machine/
I was one of four artists who were selected to create a concept for reducing plate waste in schools for the project called Nahistuneet naatit. The main implementer of the project is the city of Lapua and the part-implementers are the University of the Arts Helsinki and the University of Vaasa.
My concept Rakas lautashävikki – kirjeitä lautashävikistä was tested in March 2025 at Lapua Junior High School. Classes, teachers and other staff of the school created the letter chain. The letters were available to read in the cafeteria lobby and the letter chains are supplemented with a new letter every day. The goal is to discuss plate waste and to foster dialogue between students, teachers and other staff.
My concept was the second of the shortlisted concepts, which will continue to be tested in elementary schools in the fall of 2025.
Photos Jenni Latva, except photo number 3 Iina Taijonlahti
Olin yksi neljästä taiteilijasta, jotka valittiin luomaan konsepti lautashävikin vähentämiseksi kouluissa Nahistuneet naatit – hankkeeseen. Hankkeen päätoteuttajana toimii Lapuan kaupunki ja osatoteuttajina ovat Taideyliopisto ja Vaasan yliopisto.
Konseptini Rakas lautashävikki – kirjeitä lautashävikistä testattiin maaliskuussa 2025 Lapuan yläkoululla. Luokat, opettajat ja muu henkilökunta kirjoittivat kirjeen lautashävikkiin liittyen osana kirjeketjua. Kirjeet olivat luettavissa yläkoulun ruokalan aulassa ja kirjeketjut täydentyivät joka päivä uudella kirjeellä. Tavoitteena on lisätä keskustelua lautashävikistä sekä edistää oppilaiden, opettajien, keittiö- ja muun henkilökunnan vuoropuhelua.
Konseptini oli toinen jatkoonvalituista konsepteista, jotka jatkavat testattavaksi alakouluille syksyllä 2025.
Kuvat Jenni Latva, kuva numero 3 Iina Taijonlahti
https://www.uniarts.fi/projektit/nahistuneet-naatit-koulujen-ruokahavikki-pienemmaksi/
Kentauri2050 is a visual-kinesthetic concert inspired by the rapid development of health technology, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Philip K Dick’s dystopian sci-fi.
Can we influence the future and be active players in the development of technology? How? Sensor technology and algorithms cut through the entire society and all aspects of life. The services and products of the future will be built even more strongly on top of algorithms and produce more personal and personalized services. Still, only a few understand what it is all about, or think that they could be influencing how technology works.
Kentauri2050 is a prototype of the future. The presentation’s script is a custom-made future table. Kentauri2050 invites the audience to influence the sound and visual world of the work and thus the future.
Concept Auri Antinranta & Iina Taijonlahti and working group
Choreography Iina Taijonlahti
Sound design Auri Antinranta
Visuals and light designing Ilmari Pesonen
Dance Elina Hauta-aho
Production Sonja Korkman
Photos Vesa-Pekka Grönfors
Performed at KokoTeatteri Helsinki 12th and 13th of September.
The performance was part of the production of the Live Art Society and it was part of the Helsinki Design Week.
The performance has been supported by Live Music Association ELMU ry, Helsinki City and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Hanna Helavuoren kirjoitus esityksestä https://hannahelavuori.com/antinranta-taijonlahti-kentauri2050-antureiden-ja-algoritmien-esitys-fyysistaa-teknoutopiaa-ja-dystopiaa/
Uusi Teknologia-lehden kirjoitus esityksestä https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2023/09/07/tanssiesitys-tuo-anturit-ja-algoritmit-teatteriin/
What is the probability our of all possible possibilities that we are the ones who have gathered here today.
Or is it the necessity that we are here today together? That there is no other option.
Both of these are equally possible.
In just around the corner is a collaboration between choreographer Iina Taijonlahti, sound designer and media artist Atte Olsonen and future reacher Marko Ahvenainen. In the piece the foresight of the future is examined through the movement of the human and the robot ball. Taijonlahti performs the piece with a robot ball.
A black swan also visits the piece. The black swan theory is a metaphor used in future research, which comes as a surprise due to its rarity and is often rationalized afterwards.
The working group has consulted future reacher Marko Ahvenainen during the work process.
The soundscape of the piece consists of footsteps and the sounds of machines drawing shapes in the performance space.
Bruce Nauman's video work Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square, based on walking, served as a reference for the piece.
Performed in Helsinki at Yö Gallery on 9th of May 2023 and at gallery MAA-tila on 24th and 25th of May 2023.
Supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland and City of Helsinki.
Photos Vesa-Pekka Grönfors.
Hanna Helavuoren kirjoitus esityksestä: https://hannahelavuori.com/iina-taijonlahti-ja-atte-olsonen-just-around-the-corner-robottipallo-tanssija-ja-musta-joutsen-esiintyvat/
Ovum is a lecture, Tupperware party and a performance about reproduction. Welcome to the living room, where the themes of the work come to life. Ovum will involve you, but in a nice way.
Ovum discusses and deconstructs the ontology of human reproduction into the manifestations of technology-assisted reproduction. The work deals with the subject both factually and fictionally.
The lecture presentation Ovum is the first part of the Chimera trilogy. The focus of the trilogy is the relationship between the corporality and technology in the context of reproduction.
Concept, performance and technique Maria Oiva and Iina Taijonlahti
Technical help and photos Vesa-Pekka Grönfors
Performances in a private apartment in Sompasaari 3.3. and 4 March 2023
Supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland and City of Helsinki
Ovum on luento, Tupperware-kutsut ja esitys lisääntymisestä. Tervetuloa olohuoneeseen, jossa teoksen teemat tulevat iholle. Ovum osallistaa sinut mutta sillai kivasti.
Ovum käsittelee ja purkaa ihmisen lisääntymisen ontologiaa sekä teknologia-avusteisen lisääntymisen ilmenemismuotoja. Teos käsittelee aihetta sekä faktapohjaisesti että kuvitteellisesti.
Luentoesitys Ovum on Chimera-trilogian ensimmäinen osa. Trilogian keskiössä on ruumiin ja teknologian suhde lisääntymisen kontekstissa.
Konsepti, esiintyminen ja tekniikka Maria Oiva ja Iina Taijonlahti
Tekninen apu ja valokuvat Vesa-Pekka Grönfors
Esitykset yksityisasunnossa Sompasaaressa 3. ja 4.3.2023
Tukijat Taiteen edistämiskeskus ja Helsingin kaupunki
Hanna Helavuoren kirjoitus esityksestä: https://hannahelavuori.com/maria-oivan-ja-iina-taijonlahden-ovum-feministista-transhumanismia-naisen-ruumiista-ja-lisaantymisteknologioista/
Ahto changes according to the flow of visitors and explores the different states of water. Ahto is permanently on display in the Light Gallery of Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva.
Ahto explores the different states of water through visual material and the world of sound. It has borrowed its form language from water, but a video image of the actual liquid is not seen in the work. Gurgling, splashing, rushing, among other things, have been recorded for Ahto’s world of sound. The work invites the public to take a quiet moment, as the world of images and sound changes when a visitor stops at the work.
The title of the work, Ahto, is a variation of the name Ahti, the water god of Finnish mythology. Ahto also refers to pack ice, an uneven ice sheet formed from an accumulation of ice blocks.
Ahto is located in Malva’s 15 metres high lobby, the Light Gallery, which leads to all of the exhibitions. The multisensory work is specifically designed to be experienced in the Light Gallery. The design of the work takes into account the way museum visitors move in the space: the work constantly lives its own life through movement and the world of sound, but it comes to life in a different way when a museum visitor stops and looks at it.
Ahto utilises motion detection technology and a simulation algorithm to produce an ever-changing image and sound. The work can be viewed both from the first floor and from the Light Balcony, which is located on the third floor of the museum.
Working group
Ekho Collective / Minja Axelsson, Essi Huotari, Saara-Henriikka Mäkinen, Joonas Nissinen, Ilmari Pesonen, Kalle Rasinkangas and Iina Taijonlahti.
Ahto is made in collaboration with Malva museum.
In Ahto, I was responsible for concept development, interaction design, and production for Ekho Collective. Movement and social choreography play a big role in the work: the visitors influence the work as they move in the space.
Ahto is part of Malva’s art collection and will be on display in Malva until further notice.
https://www.malvamuseo.fi/en/discover/ahto/
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12417635
https://www.lahti.fi/uutiset/ahto-vangitsee-malvan-valogalleriassa/
Navigating in the Frame was part of Bodily Meditations – corporeal interpretations of Tarja Pitkänen-Walter’s works at Helsinki Taidehalli February 2022.
Three choreographers Sara Grotenfelt, Eeva Juutinen and Iina Taijonlahti shared with exhibition visitors various performative and multisensory ways of engaging with Tarja Pitkänen-Walter’s paintings.
In Navigating in the Frame the artwork and human being exist side by side, forming varying compositions in which cumulative effects and concatenations of ideas and objects are interpreted.
The work also reveals the process of making: what the dancer's work is in practice and how the choreography is constructed.
Premiere in Helsinki taidehalli 2022. Production Taidehalli.
Dance and choreography Iina Taijonlahti
Pictures and trailer Vesa-Pekka Grönfors
Terrain of Spills - The Dance of Corporality and Technology
Electronic rhizomes, living masses and machine bodies inhabit an ever-changing condition; form different shades in the organic-mechanical terrain. The piece is built on scores, which can be seen as a kind of technology.
During the process the working group studied the juxtaposition of organic and mechanical, gravity through classical mechanics, different kinds of agencies, self-generating systems, control and surrendering, various sensors, the concept of a prosthesis.
Premiere 2021. Production Uniarts Helsinki Theatre Academy and Aalto Arts.
Choreography Iina Taijonlahti & the working group
Dancers Malla Aaltonen and Suvi Kelloniemi
Sound design Johanna Sulalampi
Light and video design Ilmari Pesonen
Costume and set design Jenni Räsänen
Pictures Sanni Siira
Supported by Vaisala.
if sun then otherness explores a state where human, non-human, organic, mechanical, technology and corporality mingle and create a diverse evolution. if sun then otherness is a human made system that becomes uncanny, it expires, and eventually decomposes. The working group has also been interested in transparency and dismantling in the context of performance.
Performed at Kallio Stage 2020. Production Uniarts Helsinki Theatre Academy and Aalto Arts.
Choreography Iina Taijonlahti & the working group
Dancers Iiris Blauberg, Arttu Halmetoja
Sound design Satu Kankkonen
Light design Vilma Vantola
Costume design Jenni Räsänen
Scenography Aino Väisänen
Pictures Sanni Siira
Human Robot. Moving Robot - The Next Generation concept is the new variation of the Human Robot. Moving Robot workshop and performance concept.
Humanoid robot Momo, who danced in the previous version of the performance, retired at the end of the year, and the current working group features household robot Sevi, Sevi’s builder Jaakko Muhonen. The working group also includes service designer, futures thinker and musician Annina Antinranta.
So far we have worked at Zodiak, Center for New Dance Z-free residency: In our Z-free period we work to find new ways of exploring the assemblage formed by human and machine by giving more space for materiality and perception. We are also interested in kinesthetic empathy, how the human mirror neurons turn non-human elements into human experiences. Our aim in Z-free is to develop a living organism that breathes and morphs following audience input in the demo performance.
Concept and choreography Iina Taijonlahti
In collaboration with sound designer Annina Antinranta
Performers household robot Sevi, Iina Taijonlahti and Annina Antinranta
Sevi’s builder and technical help Jaakko Muhonen
Photos and video Vesa-Pekka Grönfors
Work-in-progress performances at Kaapelitehdas Zodiak Studio C4 29.9. and 30.9. at 5pm.
Supported by AVEK and Zodiak Center for New Dance
Laila is an interactive installation by composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, dramaturg Paula Vesala, Ekho Collective and the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. The work makes bold use of new technologies, while extending reality. The audience participates in the development of the performance, which unravels into a mesmerizing experience.
This performance takes place in a semicircular space resembling a half-globe, the circle of life. Laila deals with the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence: the hope of technology solving humankind's problems is mixed with the fear of it destroying what we hold dear.
In the world created by Paula Vesala and Ekho Collective, reality and future are built through interaction with Laila, reflecting on fears and dreams. Laila is the diva and main character of the story, but unlike iconic opera heroines such as Aida or Salome, Laila is inviting the audience into an exploration with AI. Traditional opera stories are based on human emotions that provide structure to life. Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, is a man-made self-learning code that mirrors its creator’s failures and successes.
Laila was in premiere at the Finnish National Opera in August 2020. Esa-Pekka Salonen’s composition features the chorus, soloists and percussionists of the FNOB. Laila is a co-production of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet and Ekho Collective: Essi Huotari, Tuomas Norvio, Joonas Nissinen, Heikki Heiskanen, Minja Axelsson, Olli Kilpi, Iina Taijonlahti and Saara-Henriikka Mäkinen. The collective won the Opera Beyond concept competition in spring 2019.
Laila won Fedora digital prize year 2020.
Next time Laila will be performed at Hong Kong Arts festival in 2022.
https://operabeyond.com/laila/
Article in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrogers/2019/11/14/how-immersive-technology-can-bring-new-audiences-into-opera/?sh=201447f83117
Article in Finnish Music Quarterly: https://fmq.fi/articles/opera-beyond
https://musicfinland.com/en/news/interactive-opera-laila-wins-fedora-digital-prize
https://thetheatretimes.com/immersive-opera-laila-at-the-50th-hong-kong-arts-festival/
Valley1010 is a trio for a three half autonomous creature. In the piece these three performers are stepping to the nomadic area, uncanny valley. Valley1010 explores this strange valley, an intermediate space where the living and the inanimate, organic and mechanical mingle.
Concept, choreography, design Iina Taijonlahti
Performers robot ball, robot vacuum cleaner, Iina Taijonlahti
Music (piano, drums) Joonas Leppänen
Production University of Arts Theatre Academy
Photos Katri Naukkarinen
Performed at 4 x 20´ - A Solo Cluster event at the Theatre Academy Helsinki in fall 2019
Kankari has been a family cottage in Oulunjärvi for 50 years and the soul and force that sustains it is a 86-year-old grandmother from Oulu. The work is an experimental praise for childhood games. It seeks to create sustainable ecology by immersing in the miniature of utopian world. The picture is from Kankari. It has my sister, me and grandma in it, in the early 90s.
Second picture is from Ärjä island. Taken by Vaara collective / Ia Samoil.
Concept and performers Cousins Iina Taijonlahti and Kaisa Karvinen
Premiere and performances at Ärjä Art Festival 2 -4.8.2019 https://arjanfestivaali.fi
Human Robot. Moving Robot workshop and performance concept explores how movement affects how human we feel about social robots. Human Robot. Moving Robot is involving people of all ages and backgrounds building a common future. The aim of the project has been to understand how the behavior of social robotics is constructured and what technology will be used and lived in the future.
Concept and choreography Iina Taijonlahti
Dance Iina Taijonlahti and Momo
Choreographer’s assistant Kaisa Kukkonen
Producer and dramaturgy help Annina Antinranta
Technical team Niki Ulmanen, Teemu Turunen, Olli Ohls, Minja Axelsson
Photos Kilian Kottmeier / Vesa-Pekka Grönfors
Trailer Leena Jääskeläinen
Past performances and workshops at the Futuresday 1.3.2019 https://tulevaisuuspaiva.fi
Workshops and performances at Annantalo Future Laboratorio 26 -30.8.2019
Performances, workshop and participating in the panel discussion at LIFT Helsinki event 24.10.2019 https://www.lifthelsinki.fi
In collaboration with Futurice and Future Laboratorio of Annantalo
Residency support Performance Center (Esitystaiteen keskus)
Article about art and foresight at Taidetutka-magazine (only in Finnish).
The Ground Beneath Her Feet -videoinstallation and a single channel film directed by media artist Sara Pathirane is a collaboration with dancer-choreographers Laura Pietiläinen (Michaela-The Queen of Fucking Everything), Iina Taijonlahti and Suvi Tuominen.
The Ground Beneath Her Feet examines and contemplates the human relationship to the soil and the fragility and strength of the human body. In the art piece, the dancer-choreographers engage in dialogue with the nature sites Pathirane has filmed around the world. The movement and videos bring out the movement of the tectonic plates, the old tree in Songshan Mountain in central China, the misty river in Finnish Lapland, and the dry volcanic soil in Lanzarote, where only lichen has managed to form a thin layer of vegetation within three hundred years.
Film credits:
Director Sara Pathirane
Choreography and dance Laura Pietiläinen, Iina Taijonlahti, Suvi Tuominen
Camera Hannes Renvall, Rabbe Sandström
Editor Sara Pathirane
Technical team Henrik Amberla
The works has been shown in Palazzo Lucarini, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Trev, Italy on May 2019 and Galleria Sinne, Helsinki on January 2020.
Supported by Taike - Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Palazzo Lucarini, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Foligno, Banca di Credito cooperativo.
"Paying respect to those ladies who inhabit this planet beneath our feet.. Paying respect to those elements of nature which are vulnerable yet consistent. Paying respect to the movement of the human body and of the nature."
Dumplings is a solo piece about citizen who lives in a society determined by consumption, control, censorship and propaganda.
Choreography and dance Iina Taijonlahti
Music Olga Nosova / the soundtrack recorded by Iina on the North Korean tourist bus
Videos and photos Vesa-Pekka Grönfors
Light designer Ada Halonen
Different versions performed The Night of the Arts Helsinki Festival 2018, Hors Lits Helsinki 2018 and two solos double evening together with Aino Ojanen’s Instant Delay at Forum Box Helsinki 2019.
Supported by Performance Centre (Esitystaiteen keskus), Live Art Society (Esitystaiteen seura) and city of Helsinki
T-effekti’s article about the double bill event (only in Finnish).
The dance piece and video work commented on the experience of a sexualized body on the internet. Although #metoo has highlighted the scale and structure of women's perceived harassment, the woman is still witnessing the violence she faces to the humiliationists and at the same time to bear the shame of the violence experience.
Music and video Susanna Hast
Choreography and dance Iina Taijonlahti
Published on the Politiikasta magazine
International collaboration Snowbirds happened in San Diego 2015. During one month residency Snowbirds collective made dance performance Bohemian Waxwing and taught in many Universities and dance venues in California. Bohemian Waxwing is telling about difficulty and rewardness of collaboration.
Snowbirds:
Iina Taijonlahti (Finland/ China)
Yoav Admoni (Israel/ Germany)
Aga Pędziwiatr (Poland/ Switzerland)
Kristianne Salcines (Filippines/ USA)
Supported by PADL West San Diego
My goal is to bring creativity, out of the box - thinking and diversity to the different organisations. I have worked as an artist as an expert in various projects.
At the moment I work at Nahistuneet Naatit project at Lapua. The goal of the project is to reduce food waste in schools.
I have been working with the future researcher for example Futuarts project organized by Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) 2021.
I have collaborated with the technology and consultation company Futurice in the project Human Robot. Moving Robot.
I have been working as a dance artist in the health care industry. I have several years of experience on coaching nurses who are working with memory disorder patients to stimulate dance, movement and touch as a method for interaction.
Links to the projects.
https://www.uniarts.fi/projektit/nahistuneet-naatit-koulujen-ruokahavikki-pienemmaksi/
http://taidetutka.fi/2021/tulevaisuuden-taju/
https://www.taike.fi/en/event/-/tapahtuma/5803/view?inheritRedirect=true
