VanThorhout

VanThorhout forms an energetic and precise dissection of male power and the cultural imagery surrounding it.

Whether it be ancient gods, classical heroes, soldiers or athletes, the glorification of male power throughout history has often tended towards a celebration of war, aggression, and violence. Thor, to whom the title refers, is one of its most famous personifications of this. He can unleash a thunderstorm and lives on to this day as a superhero in Marvel comics and films, invariably depicted with his Mjölnir, a hammer with an incredibly short handle. At a time when stereotypical forms of masculinity are strongly being challenged, how can we generate new images of men?

In VanThorhout, Alexander comes on stage as Thor, with his own Mjölnir. As always in Alexander’s oeuvre, the relationship between object and performer quickly becomes ambiguous. When do you lose the strength to manipulate this heavy hammer, and when does the hammer take over and become uncontrollable? What if all these images of power disintegrate?

After a series of group choreographies, Alexander Vantournhout now returns to the stage alone.

VanThorhout is created with the support of la Fondation Hermès within the context of the New Settings programme.

Coproduction: Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER (Gent), Le CENTQUATRE (Paris), Les Subsistances – SUBS (Lyon), Les 2 Pôles Nationaux des Arts du Cirque normands — La Brèche (Cherbourg) & le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf, 3 bis f – centre d’arts contemporains (Aix-en-Provence)