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Out of the Blue

Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere (BE) / CAMPO in samenwerking met De Brakke Grond
Wed 5 Apr ’23 20:30
Intimate portrait of the upcoming industry of deep sea mining.
Wed 5 Apr ’23
20:30

‘We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean.’ This statement is often heard when talking about the deep sea. Worldwide, only ten percent of the ocean floor has been mapped and explored. At a moment in history when the planet we live on seems to have been explored extensively, some places remain unstudied and untouched. 

 

On Thursday 6 April, you can also see this performance as part of a double bill: Out of the Blue / Into The Deep.

After their acclaimed performances Mining Stories and Pleasant Island, Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere present the final part of their trilogy on mining. This time they focus on a completely new industry: deep sea mining. With resources on land becoming increasingly scarce and overexploited, mining companies turn towards the ocean. 

In the Spring of 2021, three ships gather on a remote patch of the Pacific Ocean. One of them belongs to the Belgian dredging company DEME-GSR. Four kilometres below the sea surface, their mining robot is scraping the seabed in search of metals. On another ship, an international team of marine biologists and geologists keep a close watch on the operation. A third ship completes the fleet: on board of the infamous Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace activists protest against this potential future industry. 
 
From their small apartment in Brussels, Silke and Hannes connect with the three ships through satellite. Each of the ships represents one pillar of the public debate: industry, science and activism. Through a series of interviews and conversations, an intimate portrait of this new industry emerges. The piece is an attempt to capture a potentially pivotal moment in the history of the earth. How much deeper can mining companies dig, and what are we as humankind actually digging towards? What are the challenges and risks? What opportunities potentially lay ahead? 

Out of the Blue premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts on May 19, 2022.

In the press

"Out of the Blue maakt zonneklaar dat de complete verduurzamingsoperatie allang is gekaapt door de pioniers van een new frontier, die woekerwinsten ruiken in de ontginning van het laatste ongerepte ‘land’ op aarde: de bodem van de diepe zee." Theaterkrant 

"In Out of the Blue gaan ze nog een stap verder, en kijken ze naar een toekomst waarin ook de oceanen één grote mijn worden." De Morgen 

"Mijnbouw op de oceaanbodem? Het is allerminst sciencefiction, toont Out of the blue." De Standaard

Check this

In gesprek met Silke Huysmans en Hannes Dereere

Door Kiriko Mechanicus
Recap

Hoe zou een samenleving onder water eruit zien?

Op woensdag 5 en donderdag 6 april zie je in Frascati de documentairevoorstelling Out of the Blue, over de opkomende industrie van diepzeemijnbouw en het publieke debat hieromheen. De tweede avond den…
News

Een pleidooi voor de rol die kunst kan spelen in het verbeelden van alternatieve scenario's voor onze omgang met de zee.

Wie vertelt het beste verhaal? En wie bepaalt daarmee de toekomst van het leven in de diepzee?

by & with Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere dramaturgy Dries Douibi sound mix Lieven Dousselaere outside eye Pol Heyvaert technique Korneel Coessens, Piet Depoortere, Koen Goossens & Babette Poncelet production CAMPO coproduction Bunker (Ljubljana), De Brakke Grond (Amsterdam), Noorderzon - Festival of Performing Arts and Society (Groningen), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zürich), Beursschouwburg & Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris) & Festival d’Automne à Paris (Paris) residencies Kunstenwerkplaats, Pilar, Bara142 (Toestand), De Grote Post, 30CC, GC De Markten & GC Felix Sohie special thanks to John Childs, Henko De Stigter, Patricia Esquete, Iason-Zois Gazis, Jolien Goossens, Matthias Haeckel, An Lambrechts, Ted Nordhaus, Maureen Penjueli, Surabhi Ranganathan, Duygu Sevilgen, Joey Tau, Saskia Van Aalst, Kris Van Nijen, Vincent Van Quickenborne & Annemiek Vink thanks to all conversation partners & the people who helped with the transcriptions