Boulevard Affairs: totem, woman, venus
Studio BREI / Anne Maike Mertens & Bibi Trompetter |
During this workshop, modern fertility statues, a female totem of wool and thread, are created. We create a figure based on the image of ‘the Venus of Willendorf’.
This workshop is for everyone who want to create something with their own hands. Wool and thread are provided by Studio Brei. For this workshop, experience with knitting is not needed.
The makers of Studio Brei, Theatre maker Anne Maike Mertens and visual maker Bibi Trompetter, are fascinated by the creating power of the woman, how she changes through life, and how that makes us view a woman. What does it mean to be fertile as a woman? Or to be expected to be fertile? What if you cannot or do not want to reproduce? Do you feel the pressure to reproduce? What if you just had your first period? What if you had your last period? What if you never had a period or did not (want to) have kids? What influence does this have on the feeling of being a woman? In which ways can you come to more creation?
Creating an artwork together is the central stage of Studio Brei. The big knitting community that is spread across the Netherlands, works, searches and creates with different projects in various ways. Studio Brei created multiple projects focussed on children in the last few years. This project focusses on the knitting participants. With the female image the Venus of Willendorf, a fertility statue of about 22000 years old, as a mascot, director Anne Maike Mertens and designer Bibi Trompetter start a theatrical research of the creation power of the woman. At Theaterfestival Boulevard they start their next project by starting a conversation and to search for the creation of modern fertility statues.
