a pulse with no body a sun with no sky

In their new installation for the theatre, Ezra Veldhuis & Bosse Provoost evoke a world with its own cosmology, constructed from light, sound, and scenography. 

Bosse and Ezra create a zone in which the audience is invited to let go of their quotidian ways of seeing and thinking and open themselves up to odd, unsuspected connections and affections between spots of light, fragments of sound, bodies, and devices. The audience takes their place on the stage, which is spanned by an arc of light. A voice speaks to them, speculating on the sensory capacities and dreams of animals, from sponges to rats. Despite our differences, we rhyme biochemically. 

The American experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage stated that people mostly see the world in a 'prescribed' manner. The way in which we look (and act) is efficient because we assume a lot. We fill in images without dwelling on that lightning-quick process of signification and in that sense a 'rawer' visual experience, in which light plays a principal part, eludes us: a fierce play of reflections and hues that has not yet been reduced to a navigable world. We are trained to see light as something that deflects off objects. We rarely 'really' look at what light does. – Ezra Veldhuis in Reflecting Light Issue No. 4, December 2023 – Darkness 

• Ezra Veldhuis (°1991) is a visual artist. She completed her master’s degree in painting at the School of Arts|KASK Ghent in 2017. In her installations, paintings, and videos, light is central as a material and as a subject. She has also worked as a lighting designer and scenographer and has been creating her own performances since 2018. Her paintings were selected for the KOMASK Prize 2017 and the Grote Ernst Albert prize 2018 (honourable mention). In 2022, she was nominated for the Prix Fintro prize in the Theatre and Dance category. Since 2021, she has been affiliated with KASK Ghent as a researcher in the Reflecting Light Research Group.  

• Bosse Provoost (°1993) is a performing artist/director. He completed his master’s degree in drama at the School of Arts|KASK Ghent in 2016. He created his first performances (Herberg, Moore Bacon!, and The Act of Dying) with Kobe Chielens. In 2016 he received the KBC youth theatre prize at Theater Aan Zee and won the debut prize at ITs Festival. Between 2017 and 2022 Bosse was part of the P.U.L.S. trajectory (Project Upcoming artists for the Large Stage) at Toneelhuis. 

At Toneelhuis, Bosse and Ezra have created the performances Matisklo (2018), SUN-SET (2020) and Indoor Weather (2021) together. These performances were supported and co-produced by Vooruit (VIERNULVIER), Jonge Harten Theaterfestival (NL), de Brakke Grond Amsterdam, wpZimmer, Playground (STUK & M, Leuven), BUDA, KAAP, De School van Gaasbeek, Gouvernement, workspacebrussels, C-TAKT, and De Grote Post. Matisklo, SUN-SET, and Indoor Weather were shown at Toneelhuis, Vooruit, STUK, NTGent, De Grote Post, KVS, SPRING Festival (NL), Jonge Harten Festival (NL), Théâtre de la Bastille (FR), Auawirleben (CH), Love at first Sight, Theater Aan Zee, Theater Kikker (NL), and NEXT Festival (BE+FR), among others.