Ontroerend Goed

With a punning name that roughly translates as “feel estate,” Belgian ensemble Ontroerend Goed ingeniously combines physical theater, video, and scenic design into a magical multimedia experience. Like its palindrome of a title, Are we not drawn onward to new erA unfolds in a sequence that appears the same going forward as it does backward, but here meanings change as we’re transformed by the journey. Traveling from the time of Adam and Eve to the apocalyptic future and back again, the ensemble portrays a world forever altered by our quest for progress while questioning if our actions are reversible—or if we’ve gone past the point of no return.

Are we advancing, or is humanity headed the wrong way? This powerful work explores both scenarios while probing something deeper. Composer William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops—music made from deteriorating magnetic tapes and completed on the morning of September 11, 2001—provides an appropriate sonic backdrop to this gripping theatrical event.

Please note: this performance uses theatrical smoke.