An exercise in wandering
The Lab is an immersive, sensory installation inspired by the labyrinth and all its myths, in which sound, light, space, and movement distort perception. By moving through a scenographically designed environment covering approximately 2,100 square meters, you are immersed in a new world.
A world that swallows and encloses you, where getting lost seems inevitable, and your senses are disrupted and tested. In this in-between space, you break free from existing walls, transform from spectator to protagonist, and break with rules and expectations. You examine your own way of thinking, ultimately posing the collective question: Where are we going?
The Lab is a production by Body of Art/Annemijn Rijk in collaboration with Theun Mosk (Ruimtetijd). The Lab is a work that breaks free from cultural codes, including those of museums and theaters, and will be presented at various locations. The Lab premieres on September 11, 2025, at the Koepelhal in Tilburg and can be experienced there until September 15. Check the calendar for all the options.
Where are we going?
In a world where truth is increasingly being reduced to a malleable concept that can be used as a tool of power, we lack direction. In the long, consequential fall, we reach around in search of something to hold on to, something we already know: order, extremes, traditional values, certainty. The Lab is an antidote to this conceptual chaos. The work isn’t there to offer answers or new guidance, but to teach us to cope with uncertainty and directionlessness.
In The Lab, we engage with the (future) question: Where are we going? The work is there to pose that question, not to provide the answer. Nevertheless, The Lab, through its diverse approaches and components, can provide a diagnosis of our humanity in this day and age. We live in a world full of planning, control, and efficiency. What happens to us, what insights emerge, when we are given the time and space to temporarily abandon the pace of daily life and the rigidity of our thinking?
The Lab isn’t here to change everyone’s direction, we don’t preach a better future, but to create space for what’s happening (within us) right now: The climate crisis is now, the humanitarian crisis is now, the future is now, the disagreement about the ‘truth’ is now, our lives are now. Thus, a question about the future ultimately brings us closer to ourselves.
The purpose of wandering isn’t to find your way again, but The Lab offers an opportunity to grapple with this wandering. Paradoxically, it is precisely this state of being, this embodied not-knowing that we believe can lead to a new relationship with the self or the world around us. We therefore deliberately chose the title “The Lab”: It’s an abbreviation for both Labyrinth and Laboratory. Through a sensory experience, the experience of wandering and movement, The Lab poses the question of where we are going, now that our decades-old point on the horizon is slowly evaporating. The answer lies within the audience’s body. The audience is the protagonist in this work, but equally a “lab rat” who, as they wander through The Lab, brings new insights back with them.
#wegetlost
#radicalmovement
#sensoryart
September 11-15 in Tilburg
Location: Koepelhal, NS-Plein, 5014 DA Tilburg (500 meters from Tilburg Station)
Opening hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday: 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM and Sunday: 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Duration: The Lab lasts approximately 45 minutes.
Tickets: Book a time slot through De Nieuwe Vorst
Price: Regular 25+: €15 / 12-25 year olds, CJP, students: €7.50
Pay-as-you-can options: Daily from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM and all day on Sunday, September 14.
➤ September 19 in Utrecht
Location: Stadschouwburg Utrecht during the Zero Mime & Performance Festival
Opening hours: 2:00 PM to 10.00 PM
Duration: The Lab lasts approximately 45 minutes.
Tickets: Book a time slot through Zéro
Price: Standard: €16 / Under 19/Student/U-pas: €11
➤ September 25-27 in Eindhoven
Location: Koelhuis, Dirk Boutslaan 1, 5613 LH Eindhoven
Opening hours: 4:00 PM to 22.00 PM
Duration: The Lab lasts approximately 45 minutes.
Tickets: Book a time slot through Body of Art
Price: Standard: €15 / CJP, students, and under 25: €7.50 / Pay-as-you-can options available daily.
The Lab is a comprehensive experience that includes appropriate audience guidance and preparation, as part of the artistic whole. The Lab is suitable for everyone aged 12 and over.
The Lab can be made wheelchair accessible, but we do need to know this in advance. If you want to come in a wheelchair, please contact us in advance at info@bodyofart.nl, then we can communicate to find a suitable time slot. Wheelchair users can then purchase a ticket in consultation with us.
The Lab works with disorientation and absolute darkness. If you have hypersensitivity to light or severe claustrophobia, we advise against visiting the installation.
Credits The Lab
Artistiek leider, echomaker, filosoof – Annemijn Rijk
Echomaker – Theun Mosk
Componist – Aura Bouw
Gidsen – Sofie Porro, Niels van Heijningen, Daria Titova, Mats Lodenstijn, Susy Steijn, Sebastian van der Born, Frann Schollaert, Annemijn Rijk
Technisch producent – Cedric van Daalen, Stage-Mate
Technisch team – Bendert van Dijk, Gijs Feskens, Jurre Pöpping
Stagehands – Bo Jamon, Maarten van Burken, Tijmen van Burken
Creatief technisch ontwikkelaar – Cas Dekker
Social designer – Tessa Meeus
Filosoof en contextmaker – Dr. Max van der Heijden
Kostuumontwerper – Annemarije van Harten
Productiemedewerker – Melany van Vlie
Marketing, pr en campagnemaker – Marieke Josselet
Zakelijk leider – Milou Vogels
Beeldmakers en vormgevers – Marieke Josselet en Maarten van Maanen
Videograaf voor trailer – Thorsten Alofs
The Lab wordt mede mogelijk gemaakt door Gemeente Tilburg, Gemeente Breda, Provincie Noord-Brabant, Het Fonds Podiumkunsten, ASML x Brabant C, Theater de Nieuwe Vorst, Podium Bloos en Koelhuis Eindhoven.
Artistic and scenographic research (June/July 2024)
In the Anthropocene, wandering is a permanent condition with an uncertain outcome. Our task is not to find a way out of the labyrinth of existence, but to learn to cope with this wandering. – René Ten Bos, Professor of Philosophy