Creamcake’s 3hd 2025: Vertigo

Shifting Ground: Lewis Walker “Bornsick”

  • Performance
60 Min.

Not only a medical symptom but a vast metaphor for disorientation of all kinds, vertigo describes the moment when reliable bearings dissolve and equilibrium becomes unanchored. This sensation comes sooner and more readily to some than others; to those whose bodies, identities, or social positions have never been granted the luxury of a steady foundation. For 3hd’s Shifting Ground performance programme, Lewis Walker presents a second performance of “Bornsick”.

Walker’s “Bornsick” explores inherited illness and identity formation within systems that shape us before we can define ourselves. Through gymnastics and dance, the piece reveals the self as a construct ¬– built from learned movements, imposed roles, and cultural echoes. The queer body navigates tension between conformity and freedom, layering and un-layering itself in search of stability. Conditioning creates a machine; unlearning returns us to the animal. “Bornsick” confronts the paradox of seeking fixity on a foundation in flux.

Cast

Choreography, performance: Lewis Walker / Hypnotherapy, live narration: Michele Occelli / Dramaturgy, rehearsal directon: Elisabeth Mulenga / Look engineering: Straytukay / Lighting design: Laurie Loads / Lighting programming, codesign: Edward James Saunders / Graphic design: Marco Andrea Cacioni / Set design: David White / Physical therapy, acupuncture: Atsue Morinaga / R&D gymnast: Louis Alexander / Serpentine, London: Kostas Stasinopoulos (Curator, Live Programmes), Daisy Gould (Assistant Curator, Live Programmes), Isobel Peyton-Jones (Producer, Live Programmes), Andy Downie, Velocet / EAF, Edinburgh: Kim McAleese (Director), Eleanor Edmondson (Curator) / Rehearsal spaces: Richmond Gymnastics Association, Studio Wayne Mcgregor / Special thanks to: Tuur Van Balen, Melanie Saunders, Salme Naylor, Lizzie Haynes Blackburn, Angela & Hugh Walker, Courtney Deyn, Studio Wayne Mcgregor & Sarah Lewis

Dates

Past
Sat 4.10.2025, 20:00 / HAU2

Further Information

Visitor note

Strobe lighting is used in this performance. There are passages with loud music; ear protection is available free of charge at the cloakrooms. The performance features chalk that produces dust in the air.

Credits

Curated and organized by: Creamcake. In collaboration with: HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. “Bornsick” is commissioned by Serpentine and Edinburgh Art Festival.

Location

HAU2
Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 Berlin

There are two marked parking spots in front of the building. Barrier-free restroom facilities are available. Four relaxed seats are available in the first row of HAU2.

HAU3000 / Positions, Projects, Publications

The Glowing Room

Text by Hendrik Otremba.

An Introduction to “Collectivize Facebook”

By Jonas Staal

“Collectivize Facebook” is a lawsuit aimed to turn Facebook into public property, initiated by artist Jonas Staal and lawyer Jan Fermon. Read here Staal’s introduction to the project.

“Manifestos for Queer Futures”

Video Documentation

As part of the festival “The Present Is Not Enough – Performing Queer Histories and Futures”, HAU initiated an open call for artists based in Berlin, who were invited to submit proposals for their Manifestos for Queer Futures.