Les Zerkiens: Under the table – Sous la table – Pöydän alla – Performance+workshop

In this installation, performance and workshop, we observe the world from underneath a dinner table. What kind of stories can we hear from this vantage point?

As kids, we've all experienced the delight of sneaking beneath the dinner table and eavesdropping on the adults' conversations, with their distorted voices accompanied by the clicking of the cutlery. As we lay on the carpet in this softly lit hidey hole, the sole limit to our flights of fancy was our imagination

In the performance, parents and children slip under the large table together, where the board above their heads forms a vast screen and reveals the shadows of a pretty bouquet of flowers. Suddenly a bell sounds and the table is quickly set. Hidden below, the participants then witness the table's metamorphosis: on the other side of the glass, from where all is dramatically transformed, there unfolds a meal with a difference where relaxation, absurdity and poetry are the order of the day, and the day's tribulations are superseded by happiness.

At the workshop, on low tables there are a host of paper shapes which parents and kids can use to experiment with the performance system, by manipulating them, combining images and telling stories. Similarly, they can take turns under the little table to discover the shadowplay created using this innovative screen-cum-dining surface.

Under the table – Sous la table is an installation in the Annantalo second floor exhibition space as well as a connected performance and workshop on three days.

The installation is open during Annantalo’s opening hours 25 November – 4 December.

Performance+workshop:
Fri 25 Nov at 9:30, 10:30, 11:45, 15:30 and 16:30
Sat 26 Nov at 10:30, 11:30, 13:00, 14:00 and 15:00
Sun 27 Nov at 10:30 and 11:30

Registration for the performance+workshops at annantalo.fi.

Performance language: no words; workshop language: English
Lenght: 15 + 15 minutes
Age recommendation: 6 months+