Photo: Hayeur
This performance is presented as part of the TOWARDS:2026 workshop cycle, made possible through the support of the Swedish Arts Council and the Västra Götaland Region.
20.06
Performing mourning: lament for my father by Guy Cools (BE/CA) on 20 June, 18.00 at Vitlycke-CPA
Welcome to a lecture-performance by the dramaturg Guy Cools in which he uses his personal experience with mourning and his research of the Greek moiroloi (laments) to create – with play, dance and song – a lament for his father.
Discover the artistic world of Guy Cools by joining also the other events :
13 June, 16.30 – “Dialoguing with the more-than-human” by Guy Cools (BE/CA) och Gregory Stauffer (CH) at Vitlycke Museum
17 June, 19.00 – Lecture: “Re-membering zero degrees, the dramaturg as witness, dialogue partner and editor” by Guy Cools
While working on his book Performing Mourning: Laments in Contemporary Art, Guy Cools felt a desire to create a lament for his dead father, which could also be a lament for any victim of a traffic accident. He dreamt about the solo he wanted to create and was able to imagine its three-part structure.
Performing Mourning: Lament for My Father begins with Guy Cools transforming into his younger self – the child he was before and after his father’s accident. In the second part of the solo, this innocent child’s play begins to affect the entire body of his adult self. It becomes a dance in which he expresses both anger and self-inflicted pain. Eventually the energy quietens down again and transitions into the third part of the solo, during which he sings his self-composed lament.
The solo was created during residencies at Theater Polis in Nicosia, Cyprus on invitation of Lia Haraki and at Muzeum Susch, Switzerland on invitation of Joanna Lesnierowska.
Performing Mourning: Lament for My Father has been performed at:
Ottawa Dance Directive, CAN
H401, Amsterdam, NL
Muzeum Susch, SUl