2020
“When I closed my eyes, it seemed as though you were moving closer to me. Yet you are still standing exactly where you were before.“
Joan of Arc has repeatedly been used as a vehicle for addressing a wide range of social, political, and cultural questions, including issues of nationhood, gender, sexuality, and feminism. This performance explored the mechanisms of such appropriation and reinterpretation.
As a historical figure, Joan of Arc remains both well-known and elusive. Relatively little is known about her life, allowing successive generations to project their own concerns and narratives onto her story. At the same time, she remains profoundly ambiguous: a figure who renounced her life in order to remain true to herself, yet whose motivations and experiences continue to resist definitive interpretation. Whether saint, visionary or lunatic remains unresolved.
To frame an exploration of Joan’s legacy and the processes through which historical figures are continually reimagined, the performance introduced the fictional character of Claudia, a visual artist working on a new sculpture of Joan of Arc. Her artistic research gradually evolved into an obsessive encounter. Joan began to appear to her—whether as a spirit attempting to reclaim authority over her own story or as a projection of the artist’s increasingly unstable imagination remained deliberately unclear. The performance avoided resolving this ambiguity, treating it instead as central to the complexity of their relationship.
Completing this triangle was Maximilian, Claudia’s friend and curator. While attempting to prevent the artist from losing herself entirely in her obsession, he simultaneously cultivated and amplified her eccentric public persona, aware that artistic stereotypes continue to possess cultural and commercial value.
The production examined the tensions between artistic practice and the demands of the cultural marketplace, while also questioning the autonomy of the individual and the right to self-determination—not only in life, but also in the ways one is remembered and represented after death.
CREDITS
Directing, concept and script: Mateusz Staniak
Dramaturgy, research and script: Eefje van den Broek
Set design: Zaza Dupont
Costume design: Maud Kuypers
Light design: Lies van Loock
Music and sound design: George Dhauw
Movement couching: Tamir Eting
Video mapping: Anouk Steenbakkers
Cast: Laura de Geest, Giulia Reiss, Sebastián Mrkvčka
Production manager: Emmalot Morel
Technical production: Bas de Bruijn
Set building: Frits van Driel
Light technician: Roan Lo-a-Njoe
Sound technician: Kiki Heslenfeld
Photos: Bart Van Merode