kainkollektiv

An (audio) pilgrimage into the dark heart of the present

Wattenscheider Hellweg—one of Bochum’s oldest streets—is an inconspicuous main road lined with old farms, fields, factory buildings, and residential houses. But beneath its asphalt lie layers of history, myth, and memory.

Hell/Weg embarks on a literal and fantastical journey along this 2,000-year-old route—once a Roman trade route, pilgrimage route, and part of the famous Way of St. James. Today, it becomes the stage for a counter-narrative in which voices from the past and present engage in dialogue with one another.

At the center is Hel, the Norse goddess of death, who gave Hellweg its name. She is the guardian of thresholds—between life and death, history and myth, women and men, past and future. She guides listeners along this ancient road of the dead, which is also a lifeline for the region.

Along the way, women’s voices emerge—fragmentary, polyphonic, transcending time:

– Saint Gertrude, patron saint of travelers, who appeared in the Wattenscheid coat of arms until 1937,
– the Roman sex worker Hispala Faecenia, who uncovered a political conspiracy as early as 200 BC,
– Hildegard von Bingen, who is said to have passed through here on her pilgrimage.

Together, they form a chorus of women whose stories resonate with each other across centuries—stories of departure and resistance, of loss, sorrow, and longing. Hell/Weg allows these voices to return to the place that itself begins to speak: the Hellweg as a road of the dead, a space of remembrance, and a feminist echo of history.

The audio walk ends at kainstudio, an old half-timbered house directly on Hellweg. There, graphic designer Silvia Dirkes, who has been working with kainkollektiv for many years, has graphically traced and translated the history of Hellweg—as a living image of memory: not an archive, but an open space of possibility where the lines of the past and future flow into one another.

Hell/Weg is a journey through space and time, listening to and feeling the history beneath our feet. An invitation to hear the street, the dead, the voices—and perhaps even yourself—in a new way.

starting point: Wattenscheider Hellweg 257

registration & tickets: info@kainkollektiv.de

Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe, and the City of Bochum.

is a hybrid-digital, transnational, hydrofeminist media, music, and dance performance inspired by various European and non-European bodies of water.

At each station in the planned spatial installation, we examine the local relationships between people and their bodies of water—be it a harbor, a river, a lake, or the sea. In doing so, we collect rituals, myths, musical and dance practices that have developed over time in these places. These elements flow into the performance, which evolves with each station, creating a growing archive of body and water narratives.

The focus is on water and the body as fluid memory—both as carriers of history and trauma and as utopian spaces of possibility. We explore the figure of the Cameroonian siren Mami Wata as a mythological border crosser between land and sea, life and death, colonial history and visions of the future. At the same time, we focus on water in its political and ecological dimensions: as a place of migration, resource distribution, and climate change; as a component of urban ecosystems; and as a living connection between the past and the future.

The performance deliberately exposes itself to transformation and travel using digital tools and performative practices: each new location brings with it new narratives and perspectives that are inscribed into the choreographic, musical, and installation setting. The bodies of the performers (and also the audience) become living archives that carry themselves from one place to the next, liquefy and connect in the space of the performance, and enter into a ritual that is both virtual and spatially physical.

In doing so, we develop artistic and technological approaches, tools, and methods to make these processes visible, tangible, and interactive. Or, as Nada Rosa Schroer puts it in Missy Magazine under the title “Watery Beings”: There is “a centuries-old, more-than-human relationship between watery bodies in which ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ cannot be separated.” Post-humanist feminist perspectives are also working to overcome this separation by following moisture. They call for embodiment to be thought of as part of a cycle of particular and at the same time planetary water bodies and for interdependencies to be recognized. The suggestion is: start with your own wateriness. ‘Stay hydrated!’”

Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in the Medienkunstfonds, by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and by the City of Bochum.

The European Schools of Care (ESC) is a transnational collaboration between partners from Greece, Poland, and Germany that reimagines the art of assembly in Europe.

Its starting point is the legacy of the ancient Greek philosophical schools – spaces where learning, thinking, and living were practiced collectively. ESC takes up this heritage but also critically rewrites it: while the ancient schools were often exclusive, male-dominated, and centered on rationality, the Schools of Care open new spaces that place care, embodiment, intuition, and artistic experience at their core.

By bringing together diverse communities, the project explores both local and global challenges, developing artistic and care-driven practices that foster social inclusion.

ESC maps care practices and artistic interventions that not only define what a good life means individually, but also explore how we can live together inclusively across societies.

Through workshops, artistic labs, and activist methods, ESC creates Communities of Care: spaces for new ways of learning, unlearning, and social interaction. These highlight care work—often invisible, feminized labor essential for social life—and broaden the concept of care to ethical and planetary dimensions.

Structure

1. Local Schools of Care
In Poland (alternative education), Greece (ecological feminism), and Germany (performative assembly), translocal hubs connect diverse communities. Each site includes artistic ambassadors from the other partner countries, fostering cross-cultural exchange.

2. The General Assembly
A transnational gathering links local experiences to a broader European discourse. International ambassadors contribute perspectives from beyond Europe, expanding the conversation on care and social transformation.

3. The Constitution of Art & Care
A collective document synthesizing ESC’s insights and envisioning inclusive futures shaped by care-driven artistic and social practices.

The Importance of Alternative Knowledge

European education has historically excluded diverse knowledge systems, privileging rational, academic, and linguistic forms while marginalizing emotional, intuitive, physical, creative, and spiritual perspectives. Rooted in colonial and patriarchal traditions, this exclusion has denied many groups cultural influence and visibility.

Art as a Tool for Social Transformation

ESC employs the power of art and culture to reconnect communities with alternative knowledge and practices. Theater, dance, and performance communicate beyond dominant narratives, reviving suppressed stories, gestures, and traditions. These strategies bridge intergenerational, cultural, and national divides, opening new possibilities for an inclusive Europe.

By reintroducing excluded knowledge systems, ESC contributes to the discourse on Europe’s communal future. In times of multiple crises, ESC reclaims care, assembly, and artistic expression as essential foundations of a more inclusive and resilient Europe.

Events Germany/kainkollektiv:

European School of Care and Themophoria : FFT Düsseldorf
28. March – 29. March 2025

Online Lecture: Care For/ward
An open working space on utopias of European Schools of Care
13. May 2025 / 18 h

European School of Care and RETURN OF THE KINGS DAUGHTERS: FWT Cologne
30. May 2025 / from 17 h
31. May 2025 / from 13 h

From: kainkollektiv (Deutschland), Inter Alia (Griechenland) & Performat Foundation (Polen)

Funded by the European Union.

A post-antique theatre feast

Under the title THESMOPHORIA. THE NEW ANCIENT THEATRE, kainkollektiv, together with an ensemble of international artists, invites you not only to reconstruct this festival in a 30-hour durational performance, but to reinvent it for our current situation. Following the story of Demeter, the goddess of earth and fertility, and her daughter Persephone, who was abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld and the world of the dead, we embark on a search for what this mythical story can tell us about ourselves and our current global situation. And along the way, we will share, learn and try out lost gestures and rituals together, which should allow us not only to imagine visions for a “good life together” in the near future, but also to test them out and celebrate them together.

In performances, dance, music, film, rituals and joint workshops – the so-called Schools of Care – these visions come to life and can be negotiated with one another. The audience is not only invited to watch and listen, but also to actively participate, experience and stay where there is a desire and interest to do so. If you like, you can spend the full 30 hours with us and the ensemble in the theater, share time and space together, eat, even spend the night in the theater. However, it is also possible to leave the Thesmophoria – and come back at a later date and thus meet the 30 hours with your own rhythm.

Entry / Exit
30h Durational Performance for watching and listening and active participation. The 30h symbolize three days of 10h each. Below you will find the various entry points to the performance. It is of course possible to exit at any time.

DAY 1: The first 10 hours
1st entry: Arrival and Demeter’s search, 17h
2nd entry: Evening and night over Eleusis, 21h

DAY 2: The second 10 hours
3rd entry, memories of the lost world, 10h

The third 10 hours
4th entry: Rebirth. The ancient world was never white, 17h
5th entry: RETURN OF THE KING’S DAUGHTERS, 21h

Press reviews / guest performance FFT, Düsseldorf

“It’s great, inspiring, special. An art event, invigorating like a wellness weekend. A celebration of community. A frenzy of music. A feminist counter-narrative that captures all the senses and is a gift for all who engaged.”
Dorothea Marcus, deutschlandfunk 31. March 2025 I Link to radio feature (German)

“kainkollektiv brings together international artists who, sometimes solo, sometimes in small groups, take on the role of storytellers, inviting the participants to take part in the various performances and to process their own experiences or memories. In this way, “Thesmophoria” becomes a very personal and individual experience for each participant in this special theater performance.” Claudia Hötzendorfer, Rheinische Post, 31. March 2025

(c) storkfoto

(c) storkfoto

(c) storkfoto

(c) storkfoto

(c) storkfoto

A project by and with: Alexander Steindorf, Amal Omran, Anelisa Stuurman, Bianca Künzel, Catherine Jodoin, Edith Voges Nana Tchuinang, Fabian Lettow, Hannah Busch, Immanuel Bartz, Julie Ilner, Kristina-Maria Peters, Lefteris Papageorgiou, Lydia Polyzoi, Mariette Nancy Nko, Meret Mundwiler, Michael Wolke, Mirjam Schmuck, Nils Voges, Panos Strofalis, Patrick Dollas, Pélagie Alima, Phaedra Pisimisi, Ria Papadopoulou, Richard Behrens, Sara Bigdeli Shamloo, Shams Kassab, Silvia Dierkes, Vanessa Chartrand-Rodrigue and others.

Supported by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Kunststiftung NRW, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the City of Bochum.

A project by kainkollektiv in co-production with Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, FFT Düsseldorf and tak Berlin.