Arts

Emotions vibrate in our bodyminds. Because arts and creativity are holistic and embodied experiences, they have profound connections with emotions, including eco-emotions. Panu has worked as an advisor for several art projects around eco-emotions, and sometimes he performs music himself as part of workshops. Daily improvisation with the piano is both a coping method and a great source of joy. Panu has composed songs and performed them with friends locally, but they haven’t been published.

Silentopia is a highly acclaimed Finnish dance and music performance about the relations between humans and the more-than-human world. Panu worked as an advisor for this project led by Ninni Perko. It has been perfomed in various Finnish cities in the 2020s. The ritualistic performance followed loosely the cycle of Work that Reconnects and aimed at enabling the audience to engage with eco-emotions in a liminal space. You can listen to the soundtrack on Spotify.

Panu has given workshops in several Finnish art festivals, including Meidän Festivaali (2019), New Performance Turku (2019), and Ärjän taidefestivaalit (2018, 2019). He has written texts for art exhibitions around eco-emotions both in Finland and internationally.

In the last years, colleagues such as prof. Sofia Laine have inspired Panu to experiment with eco-somatics and authentic movement outdoors. The Japanese psychosomatic dance method butoh, taught in Helsinki by Ken Mai, has become important for him.