Afrovibes Festival: Space of Becoming
Fenix in Focus: Black Achievement Month
Experience the premiere of Sites of Memory’s latest performance during Afrovibes Festival, set among the artworks at Fenix. Dance, visual art, music and spoken word explore colonial legacies and new connections.
Amongst the art works
During Space of Becoming, you will not sit in a theatre auditorium. Instead, you will move through Fenix alongside the performers. Along the way, you will encounter scenes featuring dance, music, visual art and spoken word, including performances near The Sun by Ugo Rondinone, an eighteenth-century coromandel cabinet from Sri Lanka and Thania Petersen’s tapestry Rampie and Layer II.
Several performers show how colonial power structures continue to shape people’s lives today. They bring their own languages, memories, artistic traditions and perspectives, while exploring what connects people to one another.
Practical information
Space of Becoming takes place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October at 12.30 p.m. and 15.30 p.m. Please report to the welcome desk at Fenix before the performance begins. The performance lasts approximately 60 minutes and follows a set, wheelchair-accessible route through the exhibition All Directions and onto Plein. The performance does not contain distressing imagery or loud sounds.
Tickets
Your ticket gives you access to the performance only. Would you also like to visit the exhibitions at Fenix beforehand? Please purchase a separate Fenix admission ticket.
Fenix in Focus: Black Achievement Month
Throughout October, Fenix will be taking part in Black Achievement Month. This annual programme highlights the strength and significance of the African diaspora. Black Achievement Month Black Achievement Month was founded ten years ago on the initiative of the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy (NiNsee). In 2026, Fenix joins the programme as a new Rotterdam venue.
Two visitors look at a colourful textile portrait displayed in a bright museum gallery.
Foto: Titia Hahne
About the partners
Space of Becoming is an international collaboration between Sites of Memory, DOX from the Netherlands, nATANDA Dance Theatre from Sri Lanka and Camissa Create from South Africa.
Afrovibes Festival presents contemporary dance, theatre and music by artists from Africa and the African diaspora. The 2026 edition is themed Soil (Soul) and explores the meaning of land, heritage, memory and belonging.
Sites of Memory creates site-specific performances about shared cultural heritage and hidden or underrepresented stories from the Netherlands and its former colonies. The foundation was established in 2016 by cultural historian Jennifer Tosch and theatre-maker and programmer Katy Stree.