Out of the Blue

After their successful shows Mining Stories (2018) and Pleasant Island (2019), which were both presented at the Mladi levi festival, Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere are presenting the final part of their trilogy on mining and our relation with resources and nature.

Their new performance Out of the Blue is being created in co-production between Bunker and numerous other institutions, it is premiering in May at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2022 and will be shown also at the upcoming Mladi levi festival in August 2022.

This time, they are focusing on a completely new industry: deep sea mining. In the spring of 2021, three ships converge on a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.
One of them belongs to the Belgian dredging company DEME – GSR. Four kilometres below sea level, their mining robot scrapes the seabed in search of rare metals.
On another ship, an international team of marine biologists closely monitors the operation.
A third ship completes the fleet: on board the infamous Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace activists protest against this possible future industry.

From their small flat in Brussels, Silke and Hannes connect via satellite to the three ships, each representing a pillar of the public debate: industry, science and activism.

From a series of interviews and conversations, an intimate portrait emerges via a poetic quest. It is an attempt to capture a potentially pivotal moment in the history of the earth. How much deeper can we go and what are we as humans digging towards?

Additional information

Premiere: May 25 2022, KUNSTENFESTIVALDESARTS – Brussels

August 23 2022, MLADI LEVI – BUNKER PRODUCTIONS – LJUBLJANA – Slovenian premiere

Upcoming performances:

Past performances:

11 Jun 2023, Dunkerque Triennale Arts et Industrie – Duinkerke (France)
20 Apr 2023, Pilar – Brussel (Belgium)
8 Apr 2023, De Brakke Frono – Amsterdam (Netherlands)
7 Apr 2323, De Brakke Frono – Amsterdam (Netherlands)
6 Apr 2023, De Brakke Frono – Amsterdam (Netherlands)
2 Feb 2023, CC TTer Vesten – Beveren (Belgium)
3 Dec 2022 CC de Grote Post – Oostende (Belgium)
26 Nov 2022 Akcent festival – Archa – Prague (Czech)
25 Nov 2022 Akcent festival – Archa – Prague (Czech)
18 Nov 2022 Alkantara – Lisbon (Portugal)
17 Nov 2022 Alkantara – Lisbon (Portugal)
21 Sep 2022 Festival Actoral – Marseille (France)
20 Sep 2022 Festival Actoral – Marseille (France)
15 Sep 2022 Théâtre de la Ville – Paris (France)
14 Sep 2022 Théâtre de la Ville – Paris (France)
13 Sep 2022 Théâtre de la Ville – Paris (France)
12 Sep 2022 Théâtre de la Ville – Paris (France)
11 Sep 2022 Festival D’automne a Paris – Paris (France)
29 Aug 2022 Zürcher Theater Spektakel – Zürich (Switzerland)
28 Aug 2022 Zürcher Theater Spektakel – Zürich (Switzerland)
27 Aug 2022 Zürcher Theater Spektakel – Zürich (Switzerland)
25 Aug 2022 Mladi levi – Ljubljana (Slovenia)
23 Aug 2022 Mladi levi – Ljubljana (Slovenia)
20 Aug 2022 Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival – Groningen (Netherlands)
19 Aug 2022 Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival – Groningen (Netherlands)
18 Aug 2022 Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival – Groningen (Netherlands)
24 Jun 2022 – Pact Zollverein – Essen (Germany)
25 May 2022 – Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussel (Belgium)
24 May 2022 – Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussel (Belgium)
22 May 2022 – Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussel (Belgium)
22 May 2022 – Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussel (Belgium)
21 May 2022 – Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussel (Belgium)
20 May 2022 – Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussel (Belgium)
19 May 2022 – Kunstenfestivaldesarts – Brussel (Belgium)

credits

  • Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Beursschouwburg
  • By and with: Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere
  • Dramaturgy: Dries Douibi
  • Sound mix: Lieven Dousselaere
  • Technique: Korneel Coessens, Piet Depoortere, Koen Goossens and Babette Poncelet
  • Outside eye: Pol Heyvaert
  • Subtitles and Dutch translation: Marika Ingels
  • French translation: Isabelle Grynberg
  • Production: CAMPO
  • Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Bunker, Ljubljana, De Brakke Grond, Noorderzon – Festival of Performing Arts and Society, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Beursschouwburg, PACT Zollverein, Théâtre de la Ville, Festival d’Automne à Paris
    Residencies: KWP Kunstenwerkplaats, Pilar, Bara142 (Toestand), De Grote Post, 30CC, GC De Markten & GC Felix Sohie

    Special thanks to: John Childs, Henko De Stigter, Patricia Esquete, Iason-Zois Gazis, Jolien Goossens, Matthias Haeckel, An Lambrechts, Ted Nordhaus, Maureen Penjueli, Surabhi Ranganathan, Duygu Sevilgen, Joey Tau, Saskia Van Aalst, Kris Van Nijen, Vincent Van Quickenborne and Annemiek Vink

    Thanks to: all conversation partners and the people who helped with the transcriptions

Silke Huysmans

Silke Huysmans (°Brazil, 1989) studied drama at KASK School of Arts Ghent and Hannes Dereere (°Belgium, 1990) theatre sciences at Ghent University. With their performances the two Brussels-based makers investigate the use of journalistic and documentary elements within theatre. Underlying their work is extensive field research that they use to shape their projects. Since 2016, they have been working on a trilogy involving a long-term research on mining.

In 2016, the first part Mining Stories premiered at the Bâtard Festival in Brussels. For this performance, Silke and Hannes returned to the place where she grew up in Brazil. In 2015, a dam burst flooded this place with toxic mining waste, causing one of the biggest ecological mining disasters in recent history. Mining Stories was selected for Circuit X/Het Theater Festival 2017 (Belgium) and received the main prize at the Zürcher Theaterspektakel 2018 (Switzerland).

In 2019 the second part Pleasant Island premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels. In this performance, island state Nauru holds up a mirror to the world. Nauru was once a paradise in the Pacific. After decades of colonization and mining, this island is literally at its water’s edge due to rising sea levels.

Out of the Blue concludes the trilogy. In this final piece Silke and Hannes look at the future of mining. Through interviews and conversations they sketch an in-depth portrait of an emerging industry: deep sea mining. The piece will premiere at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in May 2022.

Hannes Dereere