Elke Gijsemans

DIE BEFORE YOU DIE - Prémière — 29 January 2027, Theater Arsenaal

Installation Art / Theater Arsenaal / KVS / Moussem
Conceived and directed by Junior Mthombeni

Composer & Musical Director: Cesar Janssens

Scenography: Stef Stessel

Installation Artist: Elke Gijsemans

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Die Before You Die is a multidisciplinary piece about naming, farewell and inherited struggle.​

 

It emerges from Junior Mthombeni’s decision to renounce his colonial surname and reclaim his ancestral name, Moloi — a gesture forming the conceptual and emotional core of the piece.

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Rather than revisiting the past, the performance stages a transformation, encouraging the audience to let go of imposed identities and create space for renewal. It explores how death — whether symbolic, social or personal — can be made tangible within a theatrical setting.

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Developed in dialogue with South Africa and India, and in collaboration with visual artist Elke Gijsemans, the project unfolds through an interactive installation centred on the Sekoti — a symbolic space created for the project — and influenced by European family constellation practices.

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Audience members do not merely witness — they enter the ritual space and participate in a collective act of release, memory, and renewal.

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It is a performance about rupture, inheritance, and the courage to begin again.