Niko Aatos Nordström

Artist presentation

Niko Aatos Nordström is interested in researching and contemplating phenomena present in their everyday life and society through writing, immersion, and on the stage through various
acting/performance/movement approaches attained in school.

They try to challenge both norms and their own boundaries by portraying a wide range of roles or ideas, from Macbeth to a Twin Peaks-inspired fever-dream giant, that in their solo project represented societal values on time. They also hope to leave an imprint for a better society by staying aware of the representational responsibilities tied to identity, class, privileges, and other
intersectional qualities, that come with the profession.

As a student, they were part of student organizations at their university and took part in the university occupation and student activism wave, later immersing into more anarchist and decentralized ways of collective organizing. Niko’s practice has so far blurred the lines between reality and fiction, usually either by immersing fictive characters into everyday
situations or applying theatrical elements to real-life themes. They feel at ease in front of a camera, cathartic after a live story-arc on stage, and at best in trance during a performance, and hope to delve deeper into music after graduating.

For them, one of the most important parts of acting is facilitating storytelling, whether mediated through bodily expression and objects or in relation to space, spectators, and participants. They see and seek the depths of being, whether it comes from within through meditative practice, through sweat, dance, and somatic physicality or by exploring sounds and spaces beyond bodily limits.

Niko has written his master’s thesis, Acting Towards a Sustainable Society: Psychogeography as an Ecological Action, about site-sensitivity. In the future, they hope to continue their research in their blog, through organizing workshops, urban exploration, and case studies, while waiting to start doctoral studies.

Professional dream

I dream of inviting people and animals to our backyard, sowing useful plants which bloom at the moment of performance, where the invited can enjoy the garden of nutritious delights and company before, during, and after a performative score. I hope to facilitate a space for smiles and where different opinions can co-exist and a where a will to give each one the benefit of the doubt perseveres.

Or camera work would be a nice change after five years of mostly theatre! But I don’t have anything against theatre either 😉

Special skills and competencies (H2) 

• Singing
• Guitar
• Puppetry
• Object Animation
• Curiosity
• Openness
• Willing to sweat

Language skills

• Swedish (mother tongue)
• Finnish (mother tongue)
• English (excellent) 

Thesis project 

Artistic work

Ronja Rövardotter, 2025
Director: David Sandqvist
Production: Svenska Teatern
Role: Birk Borkason (2025 – 2026)

Written component

Acting Towards a Sustainable Society – Psychogeography as an ecological action 

Other education

Erasmus+ exchange in Akademia Teatralna im. A. Zelwerowicza w Warszawie Filia w Białymstoku, Department of Puppet Theatre Arts, Puppet-Theatre Acting, Poland, 2025

Work sample

Livsfarligt på allvar, 2024
Regi och dramaturgi: Mikaela Hasán
På scenen: Vega Adsten, Silva Belghiti, Josef Donner, Krister Ekebom, Roy Eriksson, Marina Haglund, Yvonne Heins, Karolina Karanen, Ida-Lotta Knuuttila, Niko Nordström, Bella Paasimäki, Tanya Palmgren, Elias Simons, Willjam Tigerstedt
Production: DuvTeatern, Svenska Teatern

Fritt Arbete IV: It’s a Match!, 2025
Working group: Andreas Kvisgaard, performer/wrestler
Light & video design: Kosti Kinnunen
Sound design: Rafael Denisov
Scenography and Costume design: Mira Roivainen
In collaboration with FCF (Fight Club Finland)
Production: Theatre Academy, University of the Arts
Assignment: Performer / Pro-wrestler

Drakar, 2021
Director: Titus Poutanen
Writer: Tom Saxman
Production: Citizen Jane Productions
Role: Isak

Links