An uncomfortable confrontation with my mind that hasn’t been empty or quiet for years
Peer Roosen
Location: Nowhere, circle studio, Tolhuistuin, Tuinhuis
Dates:
- GENRE: Performance Art, Spoken word, Storytelling
- THEME: Changing the Norm, Language, Recommended by Poetry Circle
- LANGUAGE: Dutch
- Trigger warning: in this performance suicide is mentioned
- Specific accessibility description, check our festival page for more info, Toilet for wheelchair users: yes, Wheelchair accessible: yes
In this mind, it hasn’t been quiet or empty for years; it fills everything with stimuli, voices, or an audience. The coffee is cold, moisture stains drip down the walls like children’s snot, the dishes pile up hoping for a godless miracle, the neighbor knocks for a cup of sugar and asks if we can slit his throat, and we? We sit in the doorway, hoping someone will come by.
But today the door closes, we step inside and face the uncomfortable confrontation with ourselves.
In “Leegstand,” we blend poetry, storytelling, and physical presence, inviting you into a mind that can no longer be alone with itself. We embark on a journey through self-avoidance, intrusive thoughts, and mental cleaning equipment. We place a mirror before ourselves and struggle with ingrained patterns, in an attempt to be able to be alone again.
Biography
Peer Roosen (1991, they/them) is a passion-fueled bouncing ball who has made a leap from the technical university to the art of words. As a performing word artist, they use a combination of language, vocal expression, and physical presence in an attempt to grasp the world of thoughts. A word player with complimentary mental twists. Their mind runs a few steps ahead of themselves, but invites everyone for coffee.
With the combination of poetry and physical performance art, they intertwine text and movement. Sounds and repetitions influenced by movements enhance and alienate the language.
Peer writes about everything they feel a personal connection to or have an opinion on—from supermarkets to mental health issues, from late ADHD diagnoses to climate mess, and from societal problems to the search for gender. Their writing style depends on what they want to convey, but the vulnerable and real always take center stage. You have to keep feeling it, even in abstraction. Combine poetry and spoken word with sound usage and add a layer of theatricality over it, all in an attempt to make you feel the incomprehensible.