OBLIVIA

Reality Bang

»Reality Bang«, the latest music-theater work by Finnish performance group OBLIVIA, is the newest installment in their »Turn Turtle Turn« series, which centers on the themes of the Anthropocene. Following the premiere of the series’ first part at the Munich Biennale in 2024, »Reality Bang« continues this critical exploration by weaving music, text, and movement into a sharp, minimalist performance that reflects on the »big bang of reality« – the moment society begins to truly feel the consequences of human-made climate change. Yet, how did we get here? Why is our response to the climate crisis so often marked by deeper cynicism and continued exploitation? And what fuels our nostalgia for a wholesome past that may never have existed at all?

Guiding the audience through a multifaceted and often disorienting performative journey from mourning to hope, OBLIVIA delves into the possibility of dissolving and reinterpreting the Anthropocene worldview – a framework so deeply rooted in the human perspective. In »Reality Bang«, OBLIVIA’s signature blend of humor and intricacy comes to life through a carefully orchestrated interplay of music, voice, movement, stage action, costume, and lighting design. The result is a layered narrative where the distant past confronts the critical present and reaches toward an uncertain future.

This latest production also marks a continued collaboration with Yiran Zhao, the multiple award-winning composer who has worked with OBLIVIA since 2020. Together, they expand the language of contemporary music theater, once again bringing the profound questions of human existence to the stage – rendered with lightness, wit, and conceptual precision.

Performers: Timo Fredriksson, Anna-Maija Terävä, Annika Tudeer, Juha Valkeapää, Nagisa Shibata (percussions), Yiran Zhao (live electronic music)
Concept, direction, dramaturgy, texts: OBLIVIA
Composer: Yiran Zhao
Lighting design, projections: Meri Ekola
Costume design: Tua Helve
Production OBLIVIA
Co-producer ARGEkultur Salzburg
Supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Svenska kulturfonden, City of Helsinki, Konstsamfundet, Stiftelsen Tre Smeder
Residency Musiktheatertage Wien

Finnish performing arts company OBLIVIA has been crafting genre-defying performances for over two decades, blending movement, dance, language, sound, light and gesture into a distinctive minimalist aesthetic. Widely toured across Europe, OBLIVIA is known for its thought-provoking explorations of humanity’s most pressing existential questions – from the Anthropocene to our relentless pursuit of entertainment. Their works are both playful and profound, transforming fragments into cosmoses and words into entire worlds, all with a signature clarity and conceptual wit.

oblivia.fi/

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