picture: Venla Helenius

The Sence of Being in Silence

Happening 2016, Venla Helenius and Anna-Sofia Nylund

The Sense of Being in Silence is a immersive Happening arranged in various spaces. The participants of the ritual enters the chosen space and spend one night together in silence. In the morning we brake the silence and eat a vegan breakfast together. It is possible to evaluate the night.

In 2016 the ritual was held in Bethel Church and the gallery Exhibition Laboratory. Both spaces are strongly koded with underlying rules and atmospheres.

The main questions asked is:

How does the being of the participants affect the space?

Instructions for the Sense of being in Silence:

We are arriving to the space between 8.00-8.30 pm. If you are late unfortunately we can not let you in.
We enter the room in silence, we stay in silence until we break the silence during breakfast the next morning
We leave all of our electronic devices including phones. The devices are kept behind lock. Avoid bringing unnecessary valuables.
We ask the participants not to bring notebooks, books or sketchbooks.
You have the right to leave at any time. But if you leave the space we ask you not to come back inside. There is therefore no possibility to smoke during the ritual.
If you feel a need to break the silence you can come and take the hand of one of the organizers. They will lead you to a room where you can talk. This is preferably only in case of emergency. If you decide to leave, do the same thing so the organizers know you will be leaving.
There will be blankets, pillows and other material that you can use for building a place to sleep. We are constructing the space together.
We are offering snacks during the ritual.
There is possibility to go to the bathroom at any time, unfortunately there is no shower.
We break the silence at 7.30 am. We eat breakfast together and it is possible to evaluate the ritual if wanted. We will leave the space at 9.00 am.

Respect and listen to each others bodies and their boundaries. Open your minds and trust sense of being in silence.