Works

Ceci n’est pas…

For ten days, an ‘unwelcome representation of things’ is shown in a glass booth in the city centre. The exhibition of ten living ‘statues’ features individuals who, to varying degrees, are considered social outcasts. Behind soundproof glass they are presented as rare relics. Hinting at La Trahison des Images (The Treachery of Images) by René Magritte, the work analyzes the tension between a word and a representation of that word in an image. The work explores the reasons behind different forms of social unease, and the need to show and discuss that unease in the public domain.

For ten days, an ‘unwelcome representation of things’ is shown in a glass booth in the city centre. The exhibition of ten living ‘statues’ features individuals who, to varying degrees, are considered social outcasts. Behind soundproof glass they are presented as rare relics. Hinting at La Trahison des Images (The Treachery of Images) by René Magritte, the work analyzes the tension between a word and a representation of that word in an image. The work explores the reasons behind different forms of social unease, and the need to show and discuss that unease in the public domain.

Video

compilation Ceci n’est pas…

Press

"Verhoeven employed the censorship to provoke a discussion on the paternalism of Finnish state."

An interpretation of four international cases in which artists had to adapt their work in order to be able to show it, presented at our meetup Artistiek Kompas.By Errol Boon (06-05-2019)read article

"I found this series to be profoundly fascinating, partly due to its boldness of public confrontation, but also the amazing subtlety with which it carried its message. It was publicly provocative without being overtly confrontational."

'Radical Theatre in Poland', Brian Hashimoto on howlround.com (27-11-2016)read article

"The booth is arranged ceremoniously in front of the Utrecht City hall, a masterstroke (…). On squares like that, you usually find civil statues of heroes and honorary citizens."

‘Geram voor stadhuis Utrecht is subversiever dan kunst van nu’ ('The hammering in front of the Utrecht City Hall is more subversive than art today'), Mirjam van der Linden in De Volkskrant (18-05-2013)read the review (in Dutch)

"Not many passers-by just keep on walking. The performances are confrontational enough to evoke questions."

'Verhoeven bereikt zijn doel' ('Verhoeven achieves his goal'), Peter Zonderland on Theaterkrant.nl (18-05-2013)read the review (in Dutch)

"They are the ones we’d rather not come face to face with in the street, but who now looked straight back at us. In all their vulnerability and insistant humanness."

'Metropolis har sat ansigt på de nøgne og skæve kroppe', Monna Dithmer in Politiken (30-8-2015)read the review (in Dannish)

"It's easy to raise a thumb online to a story on refugees. But what if this refugee is standing in front of you?"

'Vroeger verplaatste ik een vaasje, nu het bankstel', Wouter Hillaert interviewed Verhoeven for De Standaard (07-11-2015)read the article (in Dutch)

"The audaciousness, the meeting, the interrogation, they have once again emerged in the public arena (...) where Dries Verhoeven has placed figures that are recognisable and familiar and yet far removed from the comforting, famous commercial characters.Enough for you to remove your blinkers, to shake your convictions and enough to feed the debate."

'Transcendance, transition, transparence, transmissions', Marie Baudet for LaLibre.be (10-6-2015)read the article (in French)

"The thrill running through our bodies caused by this situation will often be barely explicable and difficult to neutralize.”

'A Glance that triggers movement' Article by Kasia Torz in Klaxon nr 10 (march 2019)lees het artikel (Engels), page 59-69

Background and public reception

reports

During the Lausanne edition (July 2014) of Ceci n’est pas… the report ‘Il joue du tambour dans une cage de verre’ was made for the tv program 20 min (03-07-2014).
View the report (in French)

During the edition in Hamburg (August 2104) Verhoeven was interviewed for the Internationales Sommerfestival auf Kampnagel.
Watch the interview (in German)
Watch the interview (in English)

controversy in Helsinki, Strassbourg and Hamburg

In 2014 Ceci n’est pas… was subject of controverse during the Baltic Circle Festival in Finland. According to the local police, the last scene of the glass box series, Ceci n’est pas… mon corps (with a naked woman sitting on a chair) would have been an act of public obscenity. The Finish news reported on the event.

In October 2017 the Supreme Administrative Court overturned previous judgments by the police.

View the newsitem (in Finnish/English)
Read the article published by the festival

Ceci n'est pas mon corps in Helsinki

Ceci n’est pas mon corps in Helsinki

In Strasbourg (October 2013), the project led to numerous public responses. The local broadcaster, Stras TV, looked at the project and the reactions.

watch the video (in French)

Nolwen Allain wrote an article for the daily newspaper, DNA Strasbourg about the value of the controversy ‘<< Ceci n'est pas…>> agite les consciences’ (19-10-2013).

read the article (in French)

blog

In each city, a local dramaturge or theatre theorist wrote about the reactions of passers-by to the work. In Utrecht, Dries Verhoeven wrote the blog himself. A large number of these blogs can still be found online.

Kortrijk (November 2015) | Kopenhagen (August 2015) | Montreal (May 2015) | Helsinki (November 2014) | Freiburg (November 2014) | Hamburg (August 2014) | Lausanne (July 2014) | Basel (June 2014) | Strasbourg (October 2013) | Mülheim (September 2013) | Utrecht (May 2013)

publication

The Metropolis Festival in Kopenhagen published a retrospect – ‘Metropolis 2012-2015. Laboratory and festival for art and performance in urban space’ – containing a text by Verhoeven with his motivations behind the project and a day-to-day analysis by researcher and blogger Sofie Henningsen.

read the contributions (p.134)

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Credits

concept Dries Verhoeven
production Studio Dries Verhoeven
artistic assistance Ilon Lodewijks
sound Koen Keevel
video Thorsten Alofs

in collaboration with numerous perfomers

 

Ceci n’est pas… is developed within the context of “Second Cities – Performing Cities”.