Past Exhibition

Magic Maids will be touring across multiple locations, bringing its powerful message to diverse audiences. An evocative performance that intertwines dance, ritual, and resistance, challenging the deep-rooted structures of oppression that have long despised and exploited the female body. Drawing from the archetypal figures of "the witch" and "the maid," the performance explores the misogynistic matrix in which these roles exist as two poles of the same continuum-despised, feared, and subjugated throughout history.

The performance demystifies the entwined histories of European witch-hunts and the global exploitation of domestic workers, particularly from the Global South. Eisa Jocson from the Philippines and Venuri Perera from Sri Lanka-two countries with significant exports of domestic workers-reveal how accusations of witchcraft continue to persecute migrant workers today. In their performance, the broom, a symbol of domesticity and witchcraft, becomes both a tool of oppression and a vehicle for feminist resistance, embodying the continuous metamorphosis of the art workers and their struggle.

As Jocson and Perera traverse multiple territories-physical, conceptual, transnational, emotional, and gendered-they invoke incantation and intention to rewild the domestic sphere. They pledge themselves and their audience to fight against the invisibility of care work and oppressive power structures, aiming to release, reclaim, rejoice, and reconnect with primal energies. Magic Maids invites reflection on the visibility of the working body, the power of female solidarity, and the enduring impact of historical injustices on modern labour practices, offering a powerful commentary on the intersections of gender, labour, and history.

Eisa Jocson is a visual artist and choreographer based in Manila. She came to contemporary dance through pole dance. In her pieces, she explores the entanglements of gender, affective labour, migration and corporeality. She explored the economies of pole dancing, appropriated macho dancing - a form of hypermasculine erotic dance practised primarily in Filipino gay bars - and examined the expressive and movement vocabulary of Disney characters such as Snow White, a role denied to Filipino performers in amusement parks. She regularly presents her pieces at renowned theatres and international festivals in Asia and Europe, such as Tanz im August, TPAM Yokohama, Zürcher Theaterspektakel and Frankfurter Positionen. In 2018, she received the Culture Centre of the Philippines 13 Artists Award and, in 2019, the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award.

Venuri Perera is a choreographer, performance artist, curator and educator from Colombo. Exploring the power dynamics of visibility and opacity, she attempts to destabilise how we perceive the ‘other’. Her solo and collaborative creations deal with violent nationalism, patriarchy, immigration, colonial heritage and class and were invited to festivals/biennales/symposia across Europe, South and East Asia, the Middle East and Africa since 2008. She has closely collaborated with choreographers Geumhyung Jeong and Natsuko Tezuka. Venuri conceived and curated the projects of the Colombo Dance Platform (2015-2020, Goethe-Institut) and is committed to continuing to create support networks for the independent dance scene in Sri Lanka. A graduate of DAS Theatre, she is currently based in Amsterdam.

Concept, Creation, Dramaturgy, Performance Eisa Jocson, Venuri Perera
Light Design Ariana Battaglia
Sound Design Soraya Bonaventure
Artistic Advice Rasa Alksnyte
Text Advice Ruhanie Perera
Spiritual Advice Nenet Ocson Babaylan-Vaigaland
Outside Eyes and Ears Arco Renz, Tang Fu Kuen
Dramaturgical Support Anna Wagner, Alexandra Hennig
Production Advice Sandro Lunin
Technical Production Seok Hui Yap
Producer Katja Armknecht, Anne Kleiner
Production Management Paula Elena Noack, Greta Katharina Klein

Production
Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm
Co-produced by Frascati Producties (supported by Ammodo), Tanzquartier Wien, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Festival Theaterformen, DDD - Festival Dias da Dança, Kampnagel, Arsenic - Centre d’art scénique contemporain, La briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Points Communs - nouvelle scène nationale Cergy-Pontoise / Val d’Oise, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg ? Scène européenne, and Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay.

Funding
Funded as part of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the Hessian Ministry of Science and Arts.

esidencies
Supported by residencies at Kaserne Basel, Puón Institute Philippines, Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka, Dance Nucleus Singapore, Studio Plesungan Indonesia, and Colomboscope Contemporary Art Festival 2024.

Special Thanks
The artists wish to thank the wonderful wise working women who generously shared their knowledge and stories.