Trying to get cozy in the dark dark void

Manuel Groothusyen received a contribution to develop a performance with his sister Diane Mahín. Trying to get cozy in the dark void shows two beings living in a green void, with only themselves and two microphones. They intensely feel every event that has ever taken place and everything that is yet to come. Emboldened by possibilities, gripped by fear and tantalized by joy, they cannot embrace the void. This sets in motion a series of events in which the two struggle to find solace, creating a desperate need for blankets.

After growing up as Dutch-Iranian siblings, Diane and Manuel both studied at the Maastricht Drama Academy after theoretical studies in social sciences and humanities. Working together, they find each other in their existential and absurdist views on reality and how humans are subject to the manipulation of other (non)human entities. These ideas can be overwhelming and confronting, but if you zoom out, also liberating and painfully funny. They like to depict these feelings aesthetically, hoping to give mental suffering a new framework, against the bizarre backdrop of reality. This results in audiovisual, performative works that give shape to the behaviors of people living within invented and inevitable patterns, such as their inescapable bond as brother and sister.