Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere
Silke Huysmans (°Brazil, 1989, she/her) studied drama at KASK School of Arts in Ghent and Hannes Dereere (°Belgium, 1990, he/him) theatre science at Ghent University. With their work, the two Brussels-based artists investigate the use of journalistic and documentary elements within theatre. At the heart of their artistic practice is extensive field research. From 2016 to 2022, they worked on a long-term research on mining, which resulted in a trilogy.
The first part, Mining Stories, premiered in the Beursschouwburg in Brussels (2016). For this performance, Silke & Hannes returned to the place where Silke 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 Het TheaterFestival 2017 (Belgium) and received the main prize at Zürcher Theaterspektakel 2018 (Switzerland).
In 2019 the second part, Pleasant Island, premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels. In this performance, the island state Nauru holds up a mirror to the world. Nauru is often seen as a parable for our current world. The island was severely impacted by the effects of colonization, capitalism, migration and ecological distress of which the consequences still linger today.
Out of the Blue concludes the trilogy. In this final piece Silke & Hannes look at the future of mining from the perspective of a Belgian deep-sea mining company. Through interviews and conversations they sketch an in-depth portrait of an emerging industry. The piece premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in May 2022.
