June 14 – Slachtnacht
June 15 – Houtfestival
June 18 – Workshop at Nieuwe Vide
Farewell Rituals is a series of performance artworks taking place from June 14 to 18, 2025, across the Netherlands. The series will be presented in various editions and forms: beginning with performances at the Houtfestival and during Slachtnacht, followed by a Teken Or Leave It workshop at Nieuwe Vide Artspace on June 18 (registration for the workshop is available via Eventbrite).
Farewell Rituals explores how new rituals can emerge through performance art, centered around the theme of grief without farewell and its impact on both individual and collective memory. This year marks 80 years of freedom in the Netherlands, and the performance draws a connection between the absence of farewell rituals and the history of a country that has experienced profound loss.
This performative action will be presented and repeated throughout the festival, combining religious elements with territorial and cultural symbols to create a meditative, immersive experience. The audience is invited to participate and reflect with the artist on themes of grief, loss, and death.
Click here for more information about Farewell Rituals.
#1 Performance at Houtnacht (Slachthuis)
(20:00 -23:00)
The first action of the series “Farewell Rituals” will take place on June 14, 2025 at Houtnacht in Slachthuis.
The performance consists in the creation and building up of the object that will accompany the artist during her journey of exploration around mourning and grieving through the Netherlands. This first action will take place during the night, with the first full ritual from the creation to the burning, ending with the symbolic and physical death of the chosen element by the artist that represents her loved ones that are no longer with her.
#2 Performance during Houtfestival
(whole day)
The second action of the series will take place on June 15, 2025, at the Hout Festival.
The performance will consist in pray the Rosary for 5 minutes in Spanish, facing a floral wreath, with a video of the same action in loop, the combination of the sound from the video and the spoken word from the performer, will create an immersive and almost indistinguishable noise, who, despite potential language barriers, will connect through sound and cadence.
At the end of the prayer, the performer will tie the first ribbon onto the flower wreath, marking the beginning of the ritual journey.
The artist will stay in the stand/podium of Nieuwe Vide, during the festival and repeat the action a few times during the whole festival. When the artist is not performing, it will be talking, inviting and discussing with the visitors about the art piece, the meaning of mourning, death and rituals. How the collective rituals can affect personal experiences and vice versa.
#3 Teken or leave it: Farewell Rituals – a performative workshop – (Register via Eventbrite).
In this workshop we will explore the concept of ritual and performance art, inviting the participants of Teken Or Leave It to reflect on personal and collective experiences of farewell or absence, blending writing, drawing, and discussion about mourning rituals, the differences and similarities of rites from different cultures, to understand new symbolic acts through performance. Culminating with the participation of a collective performance where the artist will lead an experience acknowledging humanity’s intrinsic need for meaning in the face of loss. While traditional rites help humans cope with life transitions, performance art can invent new rituals addressing contemporary social needs workshop at Nieuwe Vide, blending writing, drawing, and discussion about mourning rituals, followed by participants tying white ribbons with names to the flower wreath culminating with the burning of the flower wreath.