In the first presentation of Despairing Brainchild, the hairy, panting creatures with their extended floating organs were taken on a journey through varying realms. They searched for a shelter, worshiped the water, and encountered a world of despair in malady. Their journey ended with the arrival to another planet, or might it be afterlife. Forever Lost is the second part of this odyssey, where these fictive creatures enter new terrain, confronted with another set of strange obstacles.

This work is driven by the fascination of the creativity of our brains – capability of creating a myriad of realities in a mashup of past experiences and projected futures. Despairing Brainchild part II: Forever Lost is a playful performance approaching the obscurity and fearfulness in a childish manner. It is a sphere where the grip of what is up and down, before and after, dream and real, might go lost for all involved.

Clara Sjölin is a choreographer and performer based in Leipzig, Germany. She started the development of Despairing Brainchild with her collaborators in December 2019 for Werkstattmacher e.V. at LOFFT theatre in Leipzig and continued the development of what now is Forever Lost during her autumn residency at Studio Skaftarp, in Värnamo municipality, Sweden.

Residency at Studio Skaftarp was made possible through the DANSSpår (2019-2021), project that Camilla Eskel (regional developer of dance field) develops in Region Jönköping. The guest performance at Vitlycke – Centre for Performing Arts is funded by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. This measure is co-financed by tax funds of the Saxon state parliament.

More about Clara Sjölin and her works: https://www.clarasjolin.com/