I am a freelance scenographer from Helsinki, Finland. I specialize in contemporary dance and site specific performances, but I also work with theatre, circus, concert visuals and contemporary art.

My stage aesthetics are often quite minimalistic, abstract and airy. A certain kind of minimalism is partly due to my background in dance: dance performances are all about rhythm and movement, everything else is secondary. I love the freedom of expression in contemporary dance. It’s wonderful how much space you can leave for imagination.

Site specific performances offer a unique experience to the audience. I have had the opportunity to build immersive, site specific shows with the choreographer Valtteri Raekallio in various locations, such as a huge bunker in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, and in an abandoned hospital. A large scale inspires me, I like to think big.

Taking over the space is a fun challenge that I try to think about even when designing works on stage. Theatre spaces with all the big stage machinery offer different, equally inspiring possibilities. The greatest thing about working in a city theatre is the abundance of talented professionals. It is such a pleasure to form part of a team of various craftsmen, technicians and artists.

To counterbalance all the collaboration I have recently started to concentrate more on my own visual art, making murals, concert paintings and drawings combining text and image.

I think of scenography as a playful spatial composition, as a painting that you walk into. The best moment in the stage design process is when the lighting designer switches on the first light and the image comes alive.

Aino Koski has a Master of Arts degree from the Aalto University Department of Arts and Design (2012). Koski has participated in international dance workshops in Copenhagen and Istanbul, studied in Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin and visited Cité internationale des arts Paris as artist in residence several times. Aino Koski has designed plays for the City Theaters of Oulu, Pori, Seinäjoki and Rauma. She has also worked in Ahaa Theatre and Theatre Vantaa. Koski’s long term collaborators from the dance field are choreographers Valtteri Raekallio and Sonya Lindfors. In 2023 Koski received the Säde award for best scenography from the play The year of the hare.