BLESSED
Right down to the core
A man moves carefully between cardboard set pieces. Everything appears peaceful in this stylized paradise, until a sudden rain shower escalates into a destructive deluge. A decade after the première of BLESSED, Francisco Camacho continues to cling to a world that has long been left in ruins. Melancholy and the struggle to survive form the antipole of the consoling aesthetic that is aligned with destruction and decay. In the blink of an eye, our world of artificial gadgets, role models, and keeping up appearances is transformed by unpredictable, primitive forces. Set to a soundscape by Hahn Rowe, BLESSED sketches the gradual loss of an illusion, right down to the core.
• Meg Stuart and the Portuguese dancer and choreographer Francisco Camacho first collaborated in Disfigure Study (1991), Stuart’s debut production. BLESSED was their second collaborative project. Now, ten years later, the production is still in the Damaged Goods repertoire.
‘BLESSED demonstrates that ignorance is bliss. […] A perturbing and penetrating performance that sends you back out onto the street befuddled.’ – De Standaard
‘As BLESSED grows more involved, its meaning seems increasingly imposed from without, and its internal mysteries dim.’ – The New york Times
choreography Meg Stuart | created with and performed by Francisco Camacho, Kotomi Nishiwaki & Abraham Hurtado | music Hahn Rowe | dramaturgy Bart Van den Eynde | installation Doris Dziersk | costumes Jean-Paul Lespagnard | light concept Jan Maertens | assistant choreography Abraham Hurtado | assistant set design Ania Pas | production manager Tanja Thomsen | technical direction Oliver Houttekiet | stage | many thanks to Sonya Cipriano, Christine Clauser, Sarah Corijnen, Ierê Ferreira, Françoise Hottois, Anne Kleiner, André Lepecki, Britta Mayer, Ania Pas, Christine Peterges, Eddy Present | production Damaged Goods & EIRA | co-production Vooruit (Ghent), Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Berlin), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon), Théâtre de la Bastille (Paris), Festival d’Automne (Paris) | Meg Stuart & Damaged Goods are supported by the Flemish authorities and the Flemish Community Commission | EIRA is supported by the Directorate-General for the Arts – Portuguese State Department for Culture / Presidency of the Council of Ministers
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