THE RUINS by Filip Vest & Kai Merke
DATE
4 Aug. 19h30
5 Aug. 19h30
6 Aug. 17h00 & 19h30
7 Aug. 17h00 & 19h30
PLACE Beddingen, Refshaleøen – meeting place: in front of Refshalevej 173A (CC), Cph. K – SEE MAP
WHAT Performance musical
FREE – reservation recommended
Reserve ticket
A musical adventure among ruins, dreams, and new beginnings
Let’s see if we can build something
from the broken pieces we’ve been given
Amid the ruins of a world that has fallen apart, an unlikely group comes together. They are fleeing from something – or someone. Now they are trying to imagine what might come next: a new community. Perhaps even a new future.
Blending musical theatre, performance, and role-playing, the piece introduces Plum the Dragon, Court the Shapeshifter, Kat the Seer, and the caring Donna – four very different characters, each searching for a place to belong.
Their songs become a shared language – and the foundation of the society they are trying to build. Each carries their own melody, dreams, and vision of the future. Together, they search for the song that can bring them together and be passed on to those who come after them.
A musical, moving, and imaginative performance about hope, community, and new beginnings among the ruins of the old world.
Duration: 1 hour
Language: Danish – you will receive a libretto with the English translation of the texts
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Filip Vest (they/them) explores themes such as identity, performativity, and labour through their performances, installations, and films. Vest’s works negotiate the social scripts and structures we take for granted, in order to examine whether other possible narratives and ways of being in the world might exist.
Vest graduated from the Malmö Art Academy in 2021 and has previously presented their work at, among others, SMK, Charlottenborg, Den Frie, Arken, Copenhagen Contemporary, Tallinn Art Hall, MMCA Seoul, Museum of Modern Art Zagreb, and in connection with Manifesta 13 and the 15th Gwangju Biennale.
Kai Merke is a performance artist and dramaturg, a board member of Dance Cooperative, and is trained in Natural & Cultural Heritage Management as well as choreography at the Inter-University Center for Dance Berlin (HZT).
Among his recent works are Havet i munden, a musical queer cabaret; Thump Thump, a performance exhibition about place and queer voices; and We Are Animated Soil, a performance for plants.
REVIEWS
“Since graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Malmö, Vest has quickly established a practice spanning installation, performance, and the performing arts. The works often explore performance not only as something enacted by actors or performance artists, but as a fundamental human condition – examining how we navigate a minefield of expectations from society and ourselves, on the threshold between dream and reality.” MagasinetKBH – about Filip Vest’s ”Prøvedage”
CREDITS
Performers: Hannibal Koch, Anaïs Matwara, Peter Scherrebeck/Misty Superdeluxe & Faun Vium
Director/librettist/scenographer: Filip Vest
Director/choreographer: Kai Merke
Composers: Francesca Burattelli & Rasmus Steenberg
Photos: Davy Dencke