Inkeri Kurkilahti
(b. 1993)
Ritual artist, butoh practitioner, musician and performer working with performance art, ritual and contemporary folk music, with a focus on Karelian heritage and embodied ecology.
Performances · Teaching · Music · Training · Publications
Performances & Artistic Work (selected)
2026
- Cut Through — performance, Käänne Festival
- Lyylin (Offering) — ongoing work in the forest of Ruissalo
2025
- Kekritär — butoh performance, University of Turku Botanical Garden
- Venusmusic Choir — vocal performance directed by Mareike Dobewall, ABOAGORA Symposium (performer)
- The Rivers Chasing Us — performance by Gaëtan Rusquet, New Performance Turku Biennale (performer)
- Biochar Witchcraft / Biohiilinoituus — environmental art & participatory performance, Koroisten Kyläjuhlat; Parantava puutarha / Alkuvoima
- The Onion Eater — performance, SATO Ritual Arts Gathering
- The Ancestral Tree — butoh performance, KOKKO Ritual Arts Gathering
2024
- Tulevat elävät meissä / The Living to Come Within Us — participatory performance, Olohuone306 Urban Art Festival
- Ahmaliina — performance, Ritual of Ö
2023
- Kekri Ritual — participatory performance, Rauhanlinna
2022
- Sodan Kuvaus (traditional runosong / Ika Anni) — composer & performer
- Untitled — butoh performance, Mustionkatu midsummer gathering
- Kekritär — butoh performance, Morbacka
2019
- Tuonenmarja — butoh solo, Turku Night of the Arts
2017
- Diurnal Animal / Päiväeläin — butoh performance by Osku Leinonen & MO-Teatteri, Galleria Rajatila (performer)
- Keko — butoh performance by Osku Leinonen & MO-Teatteri, Taidetila Pelto (performer)
Teaching & Facilitation (selected)
- Weekly butoh classes — Kirkastamo, Manilla, Turku (2026–)
- Butoh and Connection to Nature — workshop on butoh and ecological grief, in collaboration with Pauli Jyrkinewsky, Croquis-hoitola, B-Galleria, Turku (2026)
- Fokus Playback Theatre — co-director (2025–2026)
- Soul Lab / Sielun laboratorio — ritual art evenings, Alkuvoima and Kirkastamo, Turku (2025)
- Butoh workshop for the playback theatre group Läikähdys (2025)
- SATO Ritual Arts Gathering — co-organiser and facilitator with Meri Karhu, Alkuvoima, Turku (2025)
- KOKKO Ritual Arts Gathering — co-organiser and facilitator with Meri Karhu, Alkuvoima, Turku (2025)
Music (selected)
As singer, songwriter & composer
- Inkeri Syväinkerä — solo singer-songwriter, contemporary folk (2022–)
- Karjalaine iäni — short film by Anne Kalliola & working group, composer & runo singer (2022)
- Ikävän maa — theatre production by Vilja Lehtonen & Sara Koiranen, composer & assistant sound designer, mentored by Aino Lehtovaara (2022)
- Käärmikkä — vocals, flute, traditional wind instruments (2019–2021)
- Piispa Henrikin Surmavirsi — vocals, traditional wind instruments (2018–2019)
- Nikola Sakko — singer-songwriter and translation project with performances on anarchist working-class folk songs (2015–2017), related to the publication of Anarkistisia työväenlauluja / Anarchist Working-Class Folk Songs (Kolera Kustannus, 2016)
As musician
- Bhajan Ensemble — devotional music, vocals & flute (2017–2021)
- Juudas Iskariotin Suudelma — progressive world music, flute (2018–2020)
- Sheliak — world music, flute (2017–2020)
Selected concerts
- Inkeri Syväinkerä — Alkufest (2024)
- Käärmikkä — Kekrijuhla, Tehdas108 (2021)
- Käärmikkä — Kaustinen Folk Music Festival (2021)
- Käärmikkä — Turku Cathedral (2020)
Training, mentorship, residencies & programs (selected)
- Course in Story and Storytelling — World Storytelling Institute, Chennai (online), led by Dr. Eric Miller (2026–2027)
- The New Symposium — online residency program and mentorship for artistic research in music, .abeceda Institute (2025–2026)
- Playback Theatre directing mentorship — Vesa Purokuru (2025–2026)
- Dance Medium workshops — Seisaku & Yuri Nagaoka, two 24 h intensives (2025, 2026)
- Butoh foundations — Tashi Iwaoka, weekly classes (2024–)
- Mentorship — Aino Lehtovaara, sound design (2022)
- Karelian language and culture studies, University of Eastern Finland (2021)
- Mentorship — Gabriela Ariana, traditional healing practices & ancestral rituals (2017–2021)
- Trance dance practice — Gabriela Ariana, about 50 h (2019)
- Butoh advanced — Ken Mai, 54 h intensive (2018)
- Butoh foundations — Ken Mai, 27 h intensive (2017)
- Butoh Laboratory — Osku Leinonen, 50 h intensive (2017)
- Additional workshops in butoh, ancestral practices, Karelian culture & language, somatic practices, contact improvisation, Playback Theatre, musical improvisation, composition, folk music & traditions
Publications & Exhibitions
- Group exhibition, Galleria Alkuvoima (2022)
- EP: Käärmikkä – Suvet ulvoot suon perällä (Art Safari Records, 2021)
- Songbook: Anarkistisia työväenlauluja / Anarchist Working-Class Folk Songs (Kolera Kustannus, 2016)