Kunstplaats Vonk

The Age of Love is a multidisciplinary performance collective that was born in the summer of 2021. Samuel Valor Reyes founded this collective in search for underrepresented diverse talents rooted in Limburg, Belgium. These diverse talents were discovered in various ways to even getting inspired by interesting bodies and identities on the streets. The Age of Love quickly became an inclusive community focused on brave spaces. The philosophy of brave spaces allowed the performers to always start from a place of empowerment. In the summer of 2022 The Age of Love debuted their performance ‘The Age of Love’, transforming their philosophy in a performative setting. ‘The Age of Love’ talks about being reborn and finding community and support in different identities coming together. It shows the possibility of finding love through our differences and similarities with the idea of ‘black or white, straight or queer: it’s all disco.  

The ANART project represents the next step for Denmark-based creatives united by their passion for the intersection of movement, dance, and sound within Teater A. Originating in Copenhagen, Teater A’s foundation evolved from the production “Flowers also cry” by Anastasia Krasnoshchoka. This documentary dance piece sheds light on the lived experiences of Ukrainian women amidst conflict, amplifying their voices and advocating for justice. Teater A is dedicated to promoting human rights and democratic values through their work, using the universal language of dance to advocate for equality, freedom, and justice. Their performances serve as a call to action, encouraging audiences to uphold and protect these fundamental principles. 

ISKRA production is a theater company based in Tromsø, Northern Norway, officially established in 2024 by two exile artists Prokhor Gusev and Gulnara Iskakova. Artists of ISKRA production are trying to make their theater in new circumstances, in a new cultural field, in a new country, trying to create a space for dialogue to explore identities, roots and a new way of making theater when the world is on fire. ISKRA Production often collaborates with freelance artists to present diverse perspectives. For the “Moving Identities” project, they are partnering with Sámi-Norwegian composer Gøril Nilsen on “I Am a Witness of Your Existence,” which examines the identity of witnesses as a social and cultural phenomenon. 

Michi Maxi Schulz, Luana Àsiba Madikera and Virginnia Ogechi Krämer form a unique triple since collaborating for „#yodo -you only die once“ residency at Heizhaus Berlin in fall 2023. Coming from different backgrounds and interests such as traditional and urban african dance, acting, political organising, end-of-life care, dance education and poetic research, the three aim to further develop immersive artistic formats that invite people to get in touch with (their own) death, dying, grief and understanding of care work. They curiously curate containers to open up, exchange and learn together on these topics which are otherwise culturally marginalized in western contexts. Part of their emerging research is visiting dying people at local hospices, inviting death and grief experts for exchange and developing various artistic practices and scores around questions like: Would I regret anything if I would die today? Where can I feel grief in my body? What do I want to wear at my own funeral? 

KAIHO was unofficially founded in 2015 through the creation of the solo “Subdued” by Brandon Lagaert. Since then he has expanded the company and went on to collaborate with various artists. The company does no want to rely on structural funding but rather on commissioned work for various companies, schools and individuals that already have the required funding and audience but are looking for an artistic voice and input that has the ability to create for and with them. Following this logic KAIHO is based around a core team consisting of Brandon Lagaert in the role of artistic director, Sara Angelucci who’s the artistic assistant and Felix Machtelinckx who composes the music and soundscape of the touring performances. The work of KAIHO incorporates theatre, dance, visual imagery, film, plastic arts, lighting, music,… and uses any art form necessary to create artistic work that crosses boundaries and ends up telling a story.

Artefactourists* are a collective of four choreographers Valeria Januškevitš, Keity Pook, Sigrid Savi and Kadri Sirel and the dramaturge Kerli Ever. The dancers share a history of studying at Viljandi Culture Academy and the group recently worked together on a performance at Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (2022). Their autobiographical investigation includes memory, labour, and the inherited working body in the Eastern European context. The group is developing a co-creative nomadic performance practice that, emerging from the body, remains truthful to individual needs within a group while concentrating on the experience of rooting amongst scattered identities.

* the act of remembering through movement; memories triggered by travelling through places and artefacts.

We are a group of people with different trajectories that coincide in spaces of activism and non-hegemonic art from the corporal and gender dissidences. We are part of a beautiful affective -political- anti-ableist, queer and anti-racist network in Barcelona. We have been working from artivism as a tool for transformation and a response to violences. We find it difficult for our art to move in artistic circuits, since it is only considered worthy of showing in “special circuits”. And that distinction of “special” perpetuates the discrimination of artists with diversity. We investigate the disease, the look of society towards people with functional diversity, vulnerability, sexuality and pleasure. We are Nodual, Elena, Xavi, Izaskun and Àrid: a caravan of centàurides wishing for new horizons.