Ode de Kort
BBBB IT(E)S OF OOTS – A SLAPSTICK OPERA OF GRAMMATICS
BBBB IT(E)S OF OOTS by Ode de Kort is a playful, physical exploration of how meaning appears and slips away. Different characters, an opera voice, a boot and the space itself set out on a journey together. What happens between a B and a T? Can a letter stumble, sing or glitch? Can an object become language—or lose all meaning?
Through stutters, repetitions and fragments, an absurd and poetic game unfolds, where language constantly tips and tilts. A boot marks a space, a voice fills a gap and a motorised performer moves unpredictably between what we grasp and what escapes understanding. BBBB IT(E)S OF OOTS searches among sounds, letters and bodies for a grammar of the uncertain – inviting you to stumble along, get lost, and see differently.
Credits
Concept, direction, design, performance: Ode de Kort – Performance: Urtė Groblytė – Sound: Inne Eysermans, Ode de Kort – Voice: Naomi Beeldens – Dramaturgy: Charlotte Vanden Eynde – Outside eye; Estefania Álvarez Ramírez – Technical creation sculpture: Studio Bas Temmermans – Production: workspacebrussels – Coproduction: workspacebrussels, STUK, C-Takt – Residencies: workspacebrussels, STUK, C-Takt, De Warande, Schouwburg Noord
The artistic practice of Ode de Kort can be seen as a continuous exploration of characters in a poetic and performative investigation of the relationships between body and language. This process unfolds across installation, performance, text, photography, video, and sound.
In many of her works, the O functions as a central axis, around which other works and characters emerge. This practice develops into an extensive vocabulary, a language that arises from and interacts with its context. She works with the material, (typo)graphic, poetic, and performative qualities of these signs, deploying them as transformative forms across diverse contexts. By zooming in and out, repeating, and shifting, she seeks rhythms and in-between spaces that allow us to sense, recognize, and re-experience.