The Bench (by accident)

The world is absurd, and it is time to accept that the only way to meet it honestly is to delve into its absurdity. This performance follows a to-do list: a sequence of directions, a way of moving from A to B without knowing exactly where we are going. In something like a waiting room, a fish swims in its own puddle. A clock loses track of time. Two performers make a series of promises around the phrase “I’m going to—”. Within this choreographic and linguistic game, they become disoriented. Voices turn into calls. Gradually, the work evokes the deep sea as a space of resonance, ecological grief, and collective listening.

At its core, The Bench ruminates on loneliness and isolation within urban societies obsessed with productivity and progress. Rather than offering solutions, the performance proposes something else: slowing down, getting lost, resting, and listening as forms of resistance. Following their autobiographical performance-installation last portrait (2025), ashleyho+domeniknaue return to SPRING with this premiere. Artistically, the work emerges at the intersection of choreography, writing, sound, graphic, and object design.

This is their contemplation on purpose from the perspective of a generation attempting to build a future amidst frightening “progress” or collapse. It points to the reality that, more than ever, our futures are deeply entangled. The Bench is where we met, and where we will meet again. It is an exploration of humour, and of saving ourselves through imagination.

The Bench is going to be playful, and a little painful.
A feeling that came over one evening & disappeared. The horizon moving away
Here, for you, for us, a lonely piece
A yearning piece
A piece for the romantic A heartaching
A moment of healing piece
A deep-longing-for-a-response-from-anyone-anywhere-out-there piece