Doomsdaydudes
The installation created for the theatre performance Doomsdaydudes presents a compact, modular landscape. Its floor panels are made of layers of wood wool, soil, sand and clay, forming a tightly compressed piece of nature. Arranged in a strict grid, the square modules evoke both digital terrains from 3D environments such as Minecraft and the logic of industrial building products.
Rising from this ground are four metal mesh structures that outline the silhouette of a tree, offering a minimal form of shelter and a deliberately fragile architecture. Within this constructed terrain, the performers move, interact, and work with the exposed layers of material. The ground becomes both a habitat — a surface that holds information and supports life — and a resource that is continually extracted and consumed.
The materials highlight the relationship between the direct, physical use of natural substances and their transformation into standardised industrial products. Wood-fibre insulation boards, clay, and sand point to ecological building methods while also reflecting strategic approaches to resource management. These industrial natural materials are combined with elements associated with survival and prepping culture, such as improvised shelters or the gathering and stacking of supplies.
Together, they form a living stage on which on which questions about living space, community, adaptation, and transformation are negotiated.
about
The theatre performance DOOMSDAYDUDES is a survival show in which two 'dudes' sit around an artificial campfire, trying to outdo each other with stories about zombie apocalypses, solar storms and Doomsday. They practise making fire, setting traps, and distilling water while preparing their bodies and minds for emergencies. They document the entire process on TikTok. But why are they doing this? What motivates these 'lone wolves' to long for the apocalypse, both online and offline? They are afraid – afraid of a world that is becoming increasingly incomprehensible and irrelevant to them. DOOMSDAYDUDES offers a queer-feminist perspective on prepping, right-wing narratives and natural disasters. The project explores ways in which we can collectively confront fear as an everyday companion without exacerbating the current polycrisis.
Credits:
Artistic direction/performance: Nora Schön and Marie Simons
Stage design: Valeria Castaño Moreno
Costumes: Ina Trenk
Music: Dominik Keggenhoff
Lighting/outside eye: Dennis Dita Kopp
A collaboration between Produktionshaus NAXOS, Frankfurt am Main, and LICHTHOF Theater, Hamburg
Supported by: Frankfurt Cultural Office, Frankfurt Women's Department, Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture, Hamburg Cultural Foundation
Many thanks to Nikolaus Kockel, Caspar Weimann, and the Schattenwolf Wilderness and Survival School
Photography:
Nikolaus Kockel
