Womb
(m/f/x)
I will be born.
Goddess Isis brought her murdered and dismembered lover back to life. She couldn’t find his genitals, so she cut off her own thumb to replace it and conceived a child with it. That makes her a godmother of modern man, a goddess of makeability.
With the trilogy Womb m/f/x, Ulrike Quade Company presents an ‘automythography’ in collaboration with the audiovisual collective the Transketeers. Based on the personal stories of the Transketeers, they rewrite the myth of our origin.
Myths had to explain what humans cannot experience themselves: the origin of the world and the beginnings of their own lives. Quade and the Transketeers therefore bridge the gap between the contemporary (makeability of) gender, identity and fertility and the Egyptian divine triplets Isis, Osiris and Seth, the main characters of many stories about love, jealousy and (re)birth. For if man wants to reinvent itself, it will have to rewrite the stories of its origin.
Womb m/f/x is a performance, installation and film – a co-creation of director Ulrike Quade and performers Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, Gil (The Grid) Gomes Leal and Gabriel Casanova Miralda in an intimate team work with the Transketeers (film and stories ), Carly Everaert (costumes) and Frank Rosaly (music.)
Live theatre, dance, puppetry, film and storytelling come together in a spatial theater experience with hypnotic music and penetrating film images.
The installation reflects on the transformation of our time through the personal stories of the Transketeers. The stories are interpreted by contemporary avatars and brought to life by the mythological figures.
For 30 minutes you will wander alone (or with your own company) through an audiovisual landscape.
The film is a retelling of the myth of Isis, from a contemporary perspective on gender, identity and fertility.
The film is shown at film festivals, but can also be booked as an educational programme for upper-level classes of secondary education.
Background: the myth of Isis
Isis, Osiris and Seth are divine Egyptian triplets. Already in the womb, a special bond developed between Isis and her brother Osiris, much to Seth’s horror. As they grow older and Isis and Osiris begin a love affair, Seth flares up in jealousy and kills his brother. Seth cuts Osiris’ corpse into 14 pieces which he scatters in the Nile.
Desperately sad Isis sails across the river and finds all of Osiris’ body parts, except for his penis. With her own thumb she creates a male sex organ, managing thus to impregnate herself with their child, Horus.
I will be born.
Ik zal geboren worden.
Naceré.
Eu vou nascer.
Credits
Womb m/f/x is a co-creation of director Ulrike Quade and performers Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, Gil (The Grid) Gomes Leal and Gabriel Casanova Miralda in an intimate collaboration with the Transketeers (film and stories), Carly Everaert (costumes) and Frank Rosaly (music.)
Film supporting roles: Alidtcha Binazon, Lucia Fernandez Santoro, Tim Hammer, Kenzo Kusuda, Wesley Rommy, Alejandra Zabala Paez
Dramaturgy: Thomas Lamers
Lighting design: Floriaan Ganzevoort
Technical producer: Sunke Puell
Directional assistance: Anne van Dorp
Costume assistance: Lisanne Bovee
Puppets and objects: Ulrike Quade, Gabriel Casanova Miralda, Carly Everaert, Lisanne Bovee
Audio technique: Jorn Kortooms
Light technique: Albert Jan ten Napel
Video technique: Reynoud Wieringa
Thanks to:
Research/Expertise Uterus & Isis: Neske Beks
Womb m/f/x is brought to you by: Fonds Podiumkunsten, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Fonds 21.
Voice over trailer: Markoesa Hamer
Scene Photography: Auke Hamers
Photography campaign image: Anouk van Kalmthout
Grime campaign image: Yokaw Pat
Model campaign image: Gil Gomes Leal