Happiness
Location: Willem Wilminkplein, Enschede
Entrance without reservation possible if there is space, max. 3 people at a time.
Playtime is 20 minutes, but you can leave whenever you want.
Email contact@planetart.nl to make a reservation!
+ of course the installation is also opened during the festival, 7 - 10 September!
The work Happiness by Dries Verhoeven consist of a small concrete building, looking from the outside like a public toilet, in which a clandestine apothecary is housed, manned by a humanoid. In this apothecary the clients can enter end get information about all kinds of drugs, ranging from XTC to painkillers and antidepressants. With a calming voice the robot kindly explains everything there is to know about the drug of choice. A visit to the apothecary takes approximately 20 minutes.
Dries Verhoeven is a Dutch artist and theatre maker, making installations, performances and shows. In his works he poses questions about the societal reality we live in by focusing on the relationship between audience, artwork and performers. Staying far away from judgement or moralism, he rather invites the audience to reflect and think about the addressed issues by making them a part of the work or participate in it.
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About
Studio Dries Verhoeven
Dries Verhoeven is a multi disciplinary artist with roots in the theatre world, creating movies, installations and performances in various locations, including public spaces. The spectator is often involved in the work or given the opportunity to influence their own experience. Verhoeven aims to make visitors and casual passersby "complicit" by enabling them to view their own living environment from a different perspective.
His work gets international acclaim and won numerous prizes, in 2018 he was awarded 'Best International Performance award at the Fadjr International Theater Festival in Tehran for 'Guilty Landscapes'. And in 2022 Verhoeven was granted the Fentener van Vlissingen Cultuurprijs for his outstanding contribution to the arts in the city of Utrecht and beyond.
Since 2020 Dries Verhoeven is a member of the 'Akademie van Kunsten', an organization which gives a platform to the debate about the worth and place of the arts in a healthy society.