Ask any sculptor; to recast even the dullest object is to celebrate it. – Tom McCarthy, Satin Island
According to Jewish legend, a golem is a figure made from dust or clay by a man of learning and brought to life by means of a ritual incantation. The golem was intended as an assistant to its human creator, as a companion or protector of the latter's threatened community. But the experiment gets out of hand, and the creature turns against its creator.
This myth of artificial life underlies Thomas Ryckewaert's latest creation. It is a tale of ambition, creativity, power, creation, madness and destruction. It is a theme that touches upon the age-old fear of creating something that surpasses us: from the Bible via Frankenstein to the ghost of artificial intelligence. It is a story that raises the same question in every age: how deep can we dig?
Using a silent cinematic visual language, Golem balances on the thin line between man and matter, reason and fear. Face to face with a figure that looks a lot like man, but is at the same time radically different, a mirror is held up. He sees monsters being born in things, in the other, in himself.
Scenario and direction: Thomas Ryckewaert | Cast: Tina Breiova, Efrat Galai, Rosie Sommers, Jef Stevens & Kurt Vandendriessche | Scenography: Erki De Vries | Light: Giacomo Gorini | Sound: Senjan Jansen | Costumes: Andrea Kränzlin | Assistant director: Sibran Sampers | Assistant scenography: Maia Anastasiou | Production: Wolff vzw / Hiros | Coproduction: deSingel (Antwerpen), Kaaitheater (Brussel), Vooruit (Gent), TAKT Dommelhof (Neerpelt), Platform 0090 (Antwerpen) | In collaboration with: Kunstencentrum BUDA (Kortrijk), WP Zimmer (Antwerpen) | With the support of: de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Stad Antwerpen