EXHAUST / ajax

EXHAUST is the medieval execution of an internal combustion engine. The accused, a truck engine, is paraded from the Quartier Heyvaert in Molenbeek to the Place de la Monnaie, where the scaffold awaits. Before the execution is carried out, the convict’s heinous crimes are read out to the public. They are the unfulfilled promises of endless progress and growth. Violence is met with violence, so that catharsis might take place.

The engine is a miracle of the modern age. It fueled the industrial revolution and sped up our advance, but the ecological price we had to pay for it is enormous. This story has to come to an end. We must change, and change requires sacrifice.

From his home base in Brussels, Kris Verdonck has spent years crafting a wholly unique body of work that spans visual arts and theater, installation and performance, dance and architecture. Performer and artist Benjamin Verdonck is the executioner on duty.

Credits

Direction / Concept / Text: Kris Verdonck
Performance: Benjamin Verdonck
Dramaturgy: Kristof Van Baarle
Costumes: Sofie Durnez
Technical support: Daniel Romero Calderon, Vincent Malstaf, Thomas Glorieux, Koen Demeyere, Maarten De Vrieze, Paul Liefooghe
Coordination: Britt Roger Sas
Production: A Two Dogs Company
Coproduction: NTGent, Wiener Festwochen, KANAL-Centre Pompidou
With the support of: the Flemish Government and the Flemish Community Commission