DAY 1 | Final Performances by Thomas Diafas, Steef Kersbergen and Tania Gonzalez

Opera (we deserve rest, lovelier than diamonds) by Thomas Diafas

08:30-22:30 | ArtEZ, Onderlangs at the Hallway of the Theatrium

* The audience is invited to come and go at any time from 08:30 to 22:30

Τhrough an ongoing survey, Thomas Diafas asks arts students and professionals to share with him their ways to combat anxiety and depression in arts education and production. During the long durational piece "Opera (we deserve rest, lovelier than diamonds)" artists from different disciplines co-perform the self-care practices that are collected until now.

The 14-hour marathon expresses the need for a radical transformation of the educational system and the arts market, proposing the prioritisation of collective mental and physical health, instead of the ceaseless production that serves capitalism and aims for individual appreciation.

The title of the work, invites the audience to reflect on the common idea of the interdisciplinary artform, bringing at the same time to the surface, the latin definition of the word that means "care and art/work". The subtitle "We deserve rest, lovelier than diamonds" belongs to the Swedish artist Fever Ray, and reminds Diafas that nowadays rest is much more needed than wealth.

The performance accompanies a banner with the slogal "WE DESERVE REST", installed temporarily in the hallway of the Theatrium.

Author: Thomas Diafas

Supervisor: João da Silva

External mentors: Stella Diimitrakopoulou, Nitsan Margaliot

Performers: Fay Aldhukair, R. Suhonen, Niki Christoforidou, Thomas Diafas, Caz Egelie, Alejandro Jiménez, Pia Mačerol, Valerie Ludwig, Patrick Wiel, Yinzk

Technical assistance & Production: the team

Becoming my nonbinary body: NOTES FROM INSIDE THE COCOON by Steef Kersbergen

 17:30-20:30     | ArtEZ, Zaal 3

* The audience is invited to come and go at any time from 17:30 to 20:30

A caterpillar molts their skin multiple times before the grand transformation to butterfly. The skin cannot contain their growth.

I wrap myself up, obscure the body from sight, waiting for it to change.

For three hours the performer will open up their process of transition to the audience, sharing intimate thoughts, doubts, dreams.

If you were to open up a cocoon, you would not find a caterpillar, nor a butterfly. Inside there is nothing but goo, soup, mush. The caterpillar completely dissolves, except for some tiny clumps of cells; the imaginal discs. Those are little groups of cells that hold the crucial information of specific body parts for the butterfly. There is one for the top part of the wing, one for the bottom part, one for the legs one for the antennae etc… The cells that have the ability to imagine the future of the caterpillar.

The performance is an attempt to expose the imaginal power in the trans* nonbinary experience. Following intuition and imagination to unveil the awaited transition into the future body. A body that is already there, and known, but cannot visibly manifest itself yet.

Concept, Production, Performance: Steef Kersbergen

Supervisor: Fenia Kotsopoulou

External Mentor: Selina Bonelli

Technical Assistance: Vicky Maier

Thanks to Fabriek Fysiek Arnhem

Photo credits: Vicky Maier

STILL DANCING by Tania Gonzalez

19:30-20:30 |  Zaal 1

STILL DANCING is a performative event inviting the feeling-thinking body to slow-down. Developed as part of an artistic research intimately linked to the personal path of the artist as dancer-anthropologist, it presents an exhausted body learning to do things differently through the practice of ‘stilling’. By letting go of expectations, cultivating an openness to what comes through, or simply claiming the right to rest, the performance intends to question self-destructive patterns and evoke embodied memories of the new.

At the interstices of contemplation and action, the practice-led performance draws attention to the hyper-acceleration of current times, the vulnerability of being, and the subtleties of affect. As it celebrates slow encounters and dives into the unknown, STILL DANCING propels a quiet but forceful rebellion against the imperative to be productive, a radical quest for ways of living and dancing otherwise.

Concept, Production, Performance: Tania González

Supervisor: João da Silva

External Mentor: Núria Guiu

Technical Assistance: Mar Esteban Martin (sound), Ryan O’Shea (light)