and it gets better
(c) Hanna Fasching
(c) Hanna Fasching
(c) Hanna Fasching
ARGEkultur, tanz_house Studio
ARGEkultur, tanz_house Studio
60 min
In English
'and it gets better' is a solo performance by Helena Araújo that uses humour, disobedience and elements of cabaret flamboyance to expose the rocky pressures of the art market. The audience is invited to a fake DIY beach that shines a warm spotlight on the mental health of artists in the performance world. Helena rides the toxic waves in the art market, challenging the underrepresentation of precarious working conditions, incessant travels, and harsh criticism in the field. Or is it a beach? While sitting on a lounge chair, reading her red flags or maybe fighting off sharks, she shares intimate stories and secret anxieties.
At this beach, the atmosphere varies from stormy to breezy to glittery and the emotions squirt unapologetically, splash, splash, splash! The shoreline gets moisturised and the visitors might get wet and salty. And it gets better! Helena challenges the general mindset that the more you do, the more valuable you are as an artist by trying to do nothing. She fails, she tries again, she fails… It is not easy to be a working-class freelancer. Oh, gush gush, Helena is still looking for ways to cope with the burns and she will not give up that soon.
Helena Araújo is an enthusiastic femme maker and performer, lover of plot twists and a clown full of kitsch and bad jokes. She is originally from Rio de Janeiro and currently lives in Vienna. Helena, as a maker, is interested in leaving space for different artistic languages to coexist and blend together. In this space, the conventional values and expectations projected onto these languages, and how they are supposed to relate to each other, are free to be challenged.
As a good libra, Helena loves to please. Besides working within the traditional spaces of contemporary art she also adores to entertain feverous cabaret nights. Helena's works have been shown in various places such as brut Wien, Radiant Nights Festival, Moving Futures Festival, FDS Festival, Pinkbus Platform, Paradise Cabaret and House of Circus-Cabaret Night. Also, as a performer she has worked with many artists: TRASH performance group, Ivo Dimchev, Renan Martins, Martin Talaga and so on.
In 2024, she was part of the PARASOL program, working with choreographers Elizabeth Ward and Ulduz Ahmadzadeh. She was also awarded the DanceWeb 2024 scholarship and a Startstipendium by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport and recently premiered her latest work, ‘and it gets better’, at brut Wien.
Concept, choreography and performance Helena Araújo Dramaturgy Ana Rocha Assistant, set, costume and lighting design Evandro Pedroni Sound design Luis Miguel Ramirez aka Lulu Special participation Nerea Gonzalez Special thanks to Claire Lefèvre, Luisa Pisetta Ravanelli, Luis Javier Murillo Zuniga, Andrea Vezga, Daniela Hernandez Flores, Sven Chwalibog, Pedra Costa Photos Hanna Fasching Trailer Rafael Fraz̃ao
A co-production by Huggy Bears, brut Wien & WUK performing arts.
With the kind support of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport.
Helena Araújo is an enthusiastic femme maker and performer, lover of plot twists and a clown full of kitsch and bad jokes. She is originally from Rio de Janeiro and currently lives in Vienna. Helena, as a maker, is interested in leaving space for different artistic languages to coexist and blend together. In this space, the conventional values and expectations projected onto these languages, and how they are supposed to relate to each other, are free to be challenged.
As a good libra, Helena loves to please. Besides working within the traditional spaces of contemporary art she also adores to entertain feverous cabaret nights. Helena's works have been shown in various places such as brut Wien, Radiant Nights Festival, Moving Futures Festival, FDS Festival, Pinkbus Platform, Paradise Cabaret and House of Circus-Cabaret Night. Also, as a performer she has worked with many artists: TRASH performance group, Ivo Dimchev, Renan Martins, Martin Talaga and so on.
In 2024, she was part of the PARASOL program, working with choreographers Elizabeth Ward and Ulduz Ahmadzadeh. She was also awarded the DanceWeb 2024 scholarship and a Startstipendium by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport and recently premiered her latest work, ‘and it gets better’, at brut Wien.