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© Lorenz Vetter — avec/with : Ton Bogataj
Guests gather around a decadent, lavishly decorated table. Behind the small talk, the most existential of questions wait to be asked: “Am I a Twink or a Daddy? What will I leave behind if I don’t have children? And what does it mean to be queer in a world where we understand global destruction as a sobering reality instead of adventure-fuelled escapism, a Hollywood blockbuster, best enjoyed with popcorn?”
A HOLE IS A HOLE IS A HOLE IS is a tragicomic exploration of self-perception and societal norms. Sappho Ton Bogataj, Christopher Ramm, and Marco Merenda invite you to their immersive family get-together. Decades after coming out, they reassess their journeys through the lens of Audre Lorde’s “biomythography,” narrativizing their biographies into epic myth. Choreographies, confessions, and vows blend together on the symbolic table.
The existential crisis doesn’t end when the lights fade out. Stick around in the gallery for a post-show hangout with the performers, grab a drink from the bar, and continue the conversation about chosen families, queer timelines, and other beautifully unanswerable questions.
Content Warning
Strobe effects + High volume + Mentions of sexual assault
ABOUT+
Sappho Ton Bogataj (they) is a trans-non-binary dance maker, improviser and choreographic researcher based in Hamburg/Berlin. In their dance making they summon queer futurities through hormonal lap dancing, auto fictional love confessions, and the formation of softboybands. Their practice is deeply rooted in real-time composition as a methodology of non linear and visceral thinking and worlding. Their work is interdisciplinary, political, auto fictional, and personal. It has been presented at internationally renowned venues such as Kampnagel and Lichthof Theater Hamburg. Their recent works are Love in the Dark [2021] at Kampnagel Hamburg and Spill [2023] at Wartenau 16/Lichthof Theater Hamburg. In 2021, they received the BKM young talent grant for the dance performance [Love in the Dark/Kampnagel] and were one of five artists in residence at K3 Limited Edition/Kampnagel. In 2023, they received production funding from the BKM for the piece [Spill/Lichthof Theatre], in which they found a queer care community aka softboyband. Sappho’s practice is deeply rooted in real-time composition as a method of non-linear and visceral thinking and worlding. Their work is interdisciplinary, political, auto fictional, and personal. It has been presented at internationally renowned venues such as Kampnagel and Lichthof Theater Hamburg. As a dancer and performer, they most recently collaborated with artists such as Ana Laura Lozza & Barbara Hang, Christopher Ramm & Marco Merenda, Claire Lefèvre, Jeanine Durning and Yolanda Morales. They graduated from the Master’s program in Performance Studies at the University of Hamburg in 2021. They studied abroad for a year at the MFA in Dance at Smith College, USA, and completed the one-year contemporary dance training ‘Dance Intensive’ in Berlin in 2023. In 2023, they received the danceWEB scholarship at the ImPulsTanz Festival and the Dis-Tanz-Solo scholarship. They are currently studying at the BA in Dance, Context, and Choreography at HZT Berlin.
https://www.instagram.com/sapphotonbogataj/?api=postMessage%2F
Christopher Ramm (he/she/they) was born in 1992 in Kirchheim unter Teck. They studied Theatre Studies, Politics, Performance Studies and Multi Media Composition in Berlin and Hamburg. They work as a director, performer and sound artist and are part of the performance collectives Girl to Guerilla (Berlin) and SV Szlachta (Hamburg). As a performer Christopher collaborated with danish-austrian performance group SIGNA, Jochen Roller and did workshops with artists like Mette Ingvartsen and Antje Pfundtner. As a director they have a focus on working with non professionals like elderly women, security men, sex and drug workers. Their performative works are mostly side specific, installative and immersive and deal with topics like gender, work and power structures and the ethics of technology.
As a composer and soundartist they are working at the crossroads of performance art and electronic/ electroacoustic music. They are playing live as well as producing music for settings ranging from classical stage to installative multichannel set ups. Christopher worked closely with choreographer Yolanda Morales, Meera Theunert and director Marco Merenda.
https://christopherramm.com/de
Marco Merenda (they) is a German-Italian performance maker with a focus on directing, dramaturgy, performance and physical theatre. Their work aims to create a bridge between autobiographical experience and the collective context. Through a queer, in-yer-face aesthetic, it seeks to destabilize heteronormative and patriarchal structures, making space for new possibilities of dialogue. In 2017, they graduated in Linguistics and Literature from the Università degli Studi di Pavia and in February 2022 they completed a Master’s in Performance Studies at the University of Hamburg. Their productions have been shown at numerous theatres and festivals both in Germany and internationally, including: Kampnagel, Hamburger Sprechwerk, Lichthof Theater, MS Stubnitz, Fleetstreet Theater, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Ecosistem Festival (Bucharest), Kulturfactory (Naples), and Torino Fringe Festival. Marcos works have been funded among others by the Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg, the Bezirksamt Hamburg-Mitte, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, the Institut Français, the Goethe-Institut, and Creative Europe. Currently, Marco is a grantee of the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung under the StART.up artistic fellowship program.
Credits+
Concept, Performance, Sound: Christopher Ramm
Concept, Performance, Choreography: Sappho Ton Bogataj
Concept, Performance, Dramaturgy: Marco Merenda
Mentoring Stage Design & Visuals: Carolina Burandt, Lorenz Vetter
Light Design: Doria Worden, Christopher Ramm, Alycia O’Keefe
Costume Design: Steve Oehlmann
Mentoring Costume: Lea Theres Lahr-Thiele