“In January, I traveled to Lagos, Nigeria to make a work about the possible future African exodus. But the performers of Kininso Koncepts were not keen on showing themselves as potential migrants. Rather, they reversed the long history of stereotyping, and centered their gaze on us Europeans. A camera team from Nollywood, the center of the African film industry, jumped on board. Armed with cameras, film lights and a high-speed Internet connection, they created a work about our European self-image as our future expectations here begin to falter. How persistent are images of ourselves and others? How long will we cling to our comfortable position of power?”
Dear beloved friend, is a performance played at the Seaside Cottage theater in Lagos and screened live over the Internet at Utrecht’s Stadschouwburg.
“Verhoeven is a great master at coming up with the right form to go with the right subject… It has become one of his most political performances, about a continent that will flee en masse and another continent that doesn’t know what to do with it.” – De Volkskrant
After the performance on the 20th of May there will be an aftertalk with the performers. This aftertalk will be moderated by Maurice van Turnhout.