Imagine a place that defies your senses. Imagine rhythms that affect your vision. Imagine a room where the dimensions of the space appear resilient. Imagine the pressure of sound transforming a body into vibrations. Imagine light that makes you perceive darkness. “GRIND” offers this place – where bodies, light and sound create connections that affect, confuse and move.

Jefta van Dinther (SE/NL) is a choreographer and dancer working between Amsterdam, Stockholm and Berlin. He grew up in Sweden, after which he moved to the Netherlands and graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (MTD) in 2003. Jefta makes performances, both alone and in collaboration with other artists. His own works include The Blanket Dance (2011), which was made in collaboration with Frederic Gies and DD Dorvillier. Kneeding – a choreography for three men – premiered in Amsterdam in 2010 and still tours. In 2009 he made the quintet The Way Things Go – a slowly moving sculpture of cause and effect. The piece is also performed as repertory by the Cullberg Ballet. Together with Mette Ingvartsen he created the performance IT’S IN THE AIR (2009). Jefta also performs in the works of others. He is currently still working and touring with performances by Mette Ingvartsen, Xavier Le Roy and Ivana Müller. He has been engaged as a performer with various other choreographers including Frederic Gies, Keren Levi, Leine/Roebana, Pere Faura, Carolien Hermans, Martin Butler and Inari Salmivaara. He teaches in choreography, sharing his methods of work and practices. During 2008/2009 he was one of the participants in the project 6 Months 1 Location (6M1L), an experiment in education, production and research at the choreographic centre of Montpellier. Together with the other participants of 6M1L he co-curated In-Presentable Festival 2009 in Madrid and he also organizes The Living Room Festival.

Minna Tiikkainen (FIN/NL) started her experiments with light while studying fine arts. Her fascination with the immaterial quality of light led her to continue her studies in the Theater Academy of Finland, where she graduated with an MA in Lighting Design. After moving to Amsterdam in 2002 she has been working within the field of performing arts, both in The Netherlands and abroad. She has also created the lighting design for several exhibitions and experimental music events. Her work is described as strong in its simple minimal approach and is especially appreciated for its significance for the totality of the performance. Her collaborators include Jefta van Dinther, Nicole Beutler, Keren Levi, Mette Ingvartsen and Kate McIntosh among others.

David Kiers (NL) graduated from the Sonology degree program at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, the Netherlands. In the recent years his main focus as an image and sound artist has been on the collaboration with Gideon Kiers and Lucas van der Velden under the Telcosystems moniker. Their search for a personal language in the world of abstract computer generated image and sound has produced a string of performances, installations and short films, which have been shown and nominated for awards all over the world (Sonar/Barcelona, de Appel/Amsterdam, International Short Film Festival/Oberhausen, Boijmans van Beuningen/Rotterdam, New York Digital Salon, ArsElectronica/Linz, Cyberarts Festival/Boston, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Transmediale/Berlin, Wood Street Galleries/Pittsburgh USA). In 2009 Telcosystems received the Gus Van Sant award for best experimental film, for their short film Loud things. Besides this he has composed music for various theatre and video productions like the Panic Productions pieces Dead Meat (2007) and Private Dancer (2008), and Skubriocha, a sound poetry performance with Valeri Scherstjanoi, performed during the 2007 International Poetry Festival in Berlin.