Trickster
At ArtEZ during To Be Present in Arnhem
TRICKSTER (Rotterdam, 2008) is a collective of five artists trained in various disciplines (theater, music, visual arts, scenography) and currently consists of Nina Boas, Barbara Ellison, Nathalie Smoor, Ieke Trinks and Marielle Verdijk. Since 2008, TRICKSTER has been making brutal, unpredictable, but often poetic performances based on improvisation in which the viewer is taken along in the search for the magical moment of creative synergy. Although each has its own specialization, the TRICKSTER members on the floor always try to work across disciplines and challenge each other to leave their own comfort zone.
From both theoretical frameworks and literature, as well as from intuition and not (yet) knowing, the collective has developed its own unique way of playing. TRICKSTER works construction and deconstruction. Like real Tricksters, they play with cultural codes, rules and conventions: sonic and visual scenes are composed on the spot and then broken down again. The context of the stage or festival where we play is the starting point and determines the performative strategy. The performances vary from 1-minute actions to nine-hour improvisations.