Trailer here. Premiere 11/06/2026! B.base / 4Bid Gallery, OT301, Amsterdam. Doors 18.00, show 19.00. Tickets here or on the door, from 8€. An event of three days, 10th-12th June.
An excerpt on 20/6/2026 at Encuentros Platform Summer Edition / Meneer de Wit, Baarsjesweg 202, 1057 HS Amsterdam. Tickets sliding scale 10-20€ here or on the door.
‘House the Balloons’ is a paradoxical site-based durational playground with movement and sound initiated by T. Veneranta (choreographer, performer). Jonathan Nagel (contrabass, performer) was invited as a collaborator to bridge somatic inquiries and sonic art. They deal with curiosities such as attending to urgency without rushing, letting music scratch space, and floating with groundedness. The work draws from butoh and Body Weather, and sensations created by images and textures.
Each showing of ‘House the Balloons’ is a real-time sharing of releasing into inhibiting the urge to ‘produce’, intending to maintain a tangible tension and tonality in the performers’ shared presence. The bodies and the instrument remain in the space, whilst sounds and movements fade away, exploring the limits and possibilities of each medium.
The illustration ‘Unreal estate’ (Hey.Luisa) of a house lifted by balloons, which is embedded in the image representing the work, has tickled T.’s bodymind for years; a playful, impossible image opened up an entire world of imagination. This is further reflected in the transparent, shiny, thin costumes caressing the body’s musculoskeletal structure, and in the mass and body of the contrabass that requires a very delicate yet firm handling.
Concept: T. Veneranta
Composition and performance: Jonathan Nagel, T. Veneranta
Image: ‘Unreal estate’ by Hey.Luisa, and the performers