Philine Velhagen/Drama Köln und Julia Riera/MIRA - Wonderboom

In the organizer's words:

Between apocalyptic ecstasy and despair, four last party guests celebrate a seemingly endless world tear-down party. Not knowing what's coming, they try to save something that could send testimony to a distant time and place light years away. They create audio recordings of their humanity - but will anyone ever receive and understand these messages? Or are they themselves the aliens who no longer understand their own world?

WONDERBOOM refers to a real event: in 1977, the interstellar space probes Voyager I and II were launched, which are still on their way today, equipped with golden data disks. These were intended to give possible intelligent beings an impression of humanity and its position in the universe.

The performers in WONDERBOOM have the task of making their own selection of what should remain from Earth. They make lists, record and discard, drawing on their individual experiences, which are often universally valid. What does being human sound like? Which sounds should be preserved - animal sounds, natural sounds or machines?

Meanwhile, the performersthemselves become receiverswho reinterpret their signals. They wear Bluetooth speakers that serve as amplifiers for their bodies. Sounds such as breathing, crying, animal noises and machine noise are transformed by movements in front of the audience and break up realistic classifications.

In this nihilistic party, nature and the artificial merge, while meaning collapses into nothingness in a constant state of flux. But in this chaos, an anarchistic freedom emerges, revealing unexpected beauty and humor.

Choreographer Julia Riera (MIRA) and theater and radio director Philine Velhagen are working together for the first time for WONDERBOOM. They have been following each other's work for years. Riera appreciates Velhagen's open and playful experimental arrangements - both in her performances in public spaces and in her radio works - as humorous, challenging and surprising. Velhagen is attracted by the precision of physical expression in Riera's works, which create an abstract intensity and atmospheric timeless density. In this first joint project, the two artists bring their strengths together.

Artistic direction Philine Velhagen and Julia Riera

Dance/Performance Margherita dello Sbarba, Mijin Kim, Odile Foehl, Dennis Alexander Schmitz

Sound design Timm Roller

Set design Cordula Körber

Credit Photo Timm Roller

PR neurohr&andrä

Social media support Lena Busse

A co-production of MIRA with DRAMA Köln e.V., the Ringlokschuppen, Mülheim an der Ruhr and the Alte Feuerwache, Cologne.

Supported by: Cultural Office of the City of Cologne, Fonds Darstellende Künste, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW, NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, Karin und Uwe Hollweg Stiftung.