The performance Trans-Architect reflects on the infrastructures of oppression instilled by capitalism and colonialism in cities such as Brussels and Kinshasa. The city map of Brussels is a grid of steel and concrete buildings and avenues. Architecture determines who can access city spaces and how. It establishes zoning, creating rigid social architectures of privilege or servitude based on gender, race, and culture.

Colonial and supremacist monuments form the epicentres of this grid, celebrating oppression. Trans-architect transforms these monuments into trans spaces where identities, histories, and human conditions are negotiated. Inspiration comes from protest groups (BLM, climate change, LGBT+, etc.), the Congolese Milandu, the sacred clown tradition and other forms of critique in which the human body is the primary site of memory. Performing bodies become moving monuments, using stone monuments as a stage for transnational, intercultural and intersectional critiques. Sacred clowns use burlesque to challenge zoning. 

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Performance 30-45min

Concept, direction, text and performance: Roland Gunst / John K Cobra
Dramaturgy: Esther Severi

With the support of Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre & Kunstenfestivaldesarts