UNDERWORLDS, a Gateway Experience
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Tue 24 Oct ’2320:30FrascatiFrascati 1
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Wed 25 Oct ’2320:30FrascatiFrascati 1
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Thu 26 Oct ’2320:30FrascatiFrascati 1
Emerging from the dark is the coming of age of the homo digitalis. BVDS fuses the ancient Greek tale of Psyche’s quest in the underworld, into a new visual narrative about the development of humankind. Tunnel down through the visionary journey of Psyche and see the world in vertigo, a world that swarms with technological mediation and makes myths vibrant again.
During a rite of passage, popular culture and Greek mythology blend together, merging ritual divination and archaic oracle texts with Instagram filters, reality-shift tutorials, and unicorns. UNDERWORLDS merges daydreams, nightmares, and gaming worlds, allowing the human body with all its virtual alter egos to find home in a non-binary multiverse.
Credits
direction Bianca van der Schoot (NL), performance Suzan Boogaerdt (NL), Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti (BR), Charlotte Gillian (BE) and Klara Alexova (CZ) sculptures/masks/costumes Lotte Goos (NL) stage design Lena Newton (DE) video work Mikko Gaestel (DE) sound compositions Remco de Jong (NL) and Florentijn Boddendijk (NL) coproduced by Schauspielhaus Bochum and Theater Rotterdam
Reality-shift community
For its contemporary quest, BVDS delves into the reality-shift community – a community of girls around the world whose Tik Tok reels went viral during the recent pandemic. In their teenage bedrooms, they sought to make out-of-body journeys into parallel universes. Through Tik Tok and YouTube, they support each other in their efforts. Inspired by the incubation practices of these teenagers, BVDS creates a new myth for gender fluidity and the contemporary quest for wholeness.
The performance refers to both pop culture and Greek mythology and is based on the story of Psyche and Eros, written in the 2nd century AD. Although written in patriarchal times, it still contains many references from a long-forgotten time, when God was worshipped as a woman, an animal, a plant or a tree. It therefore offers us another path in the evolution of the self, away from a dualistic, logos-oriented perspective to a non-dual, non-binary or more holistic future.
Rooms for Transformation
The work is part of the Rooms for Transformation-series in which BVDS attempts to make space for the future and dream new worlds into being. To arise from structures collapsing all around us, they aim to create space for communal dreaming, care, and healing. In these series, BVDS questions the fixed idea of what is human so as to transition towards a more livable future for all beings.
