Lots of chewing gum balls in Festival Centre De Betovering

Chewing together towards a grand work of art. 

During De Betovering everyone chews along at GUMLAB, an estrangingly cheerful installation that can be found at Theater aan het Spui throughout the entire festival week. It starts simply: you trade some information about yourself for a shiny gumball. Good deal, right? But then the real work begins... as soon as you start chewing and chew the flavor out of your ball in the 'chewing-out room,' your unique DNA emerges. It is stored in a grand work of art: sticky data.

Photo: Gumlab (Photo: Atelier Ari + ai editing)

Science, art, or pure seduction? That is the question Atelier ARI poses with this art installation. “The project is a playful gesture that symbolizes our daily transactions in the digital world: just as you share your data to gain access to something seemingly innocent, like a chewing gum ball, we also share our data unconsciously or voluntarily on social networks, for example. The pleasure we derive from this is usually only temporary, but it does come at a price,” say artists Joyce de Grauw and Paul van den Berg of Atelier ARI about it.

The cheerful installation thus allows you to 'look through', which is exactly the theme of Festival de Betovering this year. In the Festival Centre, there is also a Mieniemij workshop by The Hague artist Lotte Verweij. Here, self-made miniature dolls go on an adventure in a self-made miniature city where all existing perspectives are thrown overboard. This workshop and the Gumlab are open continuously and free to visit.

FLY

There is even more at the Festival Centre. Step aboard on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for a cinematic space journey full of vacuum cleaner hoses, galaxies, and lightning-fast spoons. The short and intimate performance FLY (15-20 minutes) is dedicated to imagination yet remains surprisingly moving. Tickets are only €3.50 (50% discount with the Ooievaarspas).

Family shows

From the Festival Centre, family performances in Halls 1 and 2 of Theater aan het Spui are easy to attend every day (book your tickets in time!). We have selected a fantastic international program where young and old can marvel together. The Festival Centre is open every festival day from Saturday, October 17 to Sunday, October 25 between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM. The start times of the performances can be found at www.debetovering.nl.

Photo: Performance FLY - VolDAAN (Photo Daan Mathot)