A quiet death can mean a merciful death: I want to die after a good and fulfilling life, peacefully. In reality, death often occurs too hard, too painfully, too loud, too early or too late. A quiet death can also be understood as dying secretly, without nobody noticing. Or in undistinguished way. Or it can mean that we don’t want to talk about death, because it’s not a nice subject.

Silent Death is a sound performance I make with sound artist Heidi Soidinsalo. We build a listening space, where we imagine the death, and play it to the audience. People, and other animals, plants, languages, villages and factories make noise when they live – when they die, the sound stops. The performance is a series of deaths, and the soundscapes of dying.

The first performances at Kiasma Theatre 29 November-7 December, 2019.

Valkeapää ja Soidinsalo ovat ennenkin tienneet, että raskaista asioita pitää kertoa keveästi. Hiljainen kuolema asettaa tällekin periaatteelle toisenlaisen haasteen. Hiljainen kuolema on sekä hyvin yksityistä surutyötä, että yritystä kuunnella tätä ihmisien luomaa maisemaa, joka yhdenmukaistaa ja koko ajan tappaa erilaisuutta ja monimuotoisuutta. Maria Säkö, Helsingin Sanomat, 2 December, 2019

Our common history: the first Juha’s performance that Heidi saw was Silence (2007), and the first Heidi’s performance that Juha saw was Heidi Klein (2012), which was a collaboration with Anni Klein. During the performance, Heidi changed her lastname from Lind to Soidinsalo. Our first collaboration was Private Dancer (2017) by W A U H A U S. We also teach at the sound design department in Uniarts, Helsinki.

Photo: Pirje Mykkänen / Finnish National Gallery