Visual theatre / Language no Problem

25-03 t/m 25-03

Marieke Heerema

Born For Nothing

In an abandoned factory hall, workers carry out monotonous rituals: one processes it, another packages it, a third removes whatever does not meet the standard. The created beings are not regarded as alive or valuable, but only as products. No wonder, no doubt, no protest—only actions, distance, and automatism.

With alienating images, a monotone computer voice, and a mix of cold beats and ecstatic trance, the performance shifts between production process and ritual, between destruction and rave. Born For Nothing exposes the cold mechanics of endless production processes alongside the fragile beauty of nascent life. What does it mean to no longer see something living as alive, but instead as something to consume?

About Marieke Heerema

Marieke Heerema creates performances that draw audiences into alternative, absurd worlds, where sweet colours collide with the sometimes grey reality. Together with mimes and artists, she builds speculative universes in which forgotten figures are given a voice and the everyday is slowed down, distorted, and reconsidered: “I want people to walk out of my performances and feel wonder about the world, to continue looking with surprise and curiosity at what they previously took for granted.”

In 2024, Marieke Heerema conducted preliminary research for Born For Nothing at the Broedplaats in ’s-Hertogenbosch.