SPACE is a Budapest and Amsterdam-based artists’ collective. SPACE makes documentary theatre, interactive games, theatrical tours and installations in public space. Our projects balance on the border of fiction and reality, in which we depart from the politics of the personal. Each time we ask the question: ‘What if this happened to us, what would we do in that situation?

SPACE’s projects are immersive storytelling experiences in various media. They are culture-specific and the participants or spectators are the protagonists. The storytelling is spatial and sensory and dissects complex social issues such as migration, polarisation, inequality, ownership and decolonisation. SPACE states that in the safe&brave space of the imagination, a deep sense of connection can arise because we dare to imagine and share our fears and dreams. We get a grip on reality by playing with fiction.

We have made a name for ourselves in the theatre, but in recent years have also presented our work in other contexts, for example in collaboration with the scientific and social sectors. We believe that art can question the dominant political and historical narratives and facilitate dialogue on the most difficult issues, between people who have little faith in each other. We also continue to make autonomous art outside of the art podiums. In our search for engagement, we connect different worlds and ways of thinking. We put social themes under a magnifying glass and make them tangible with our accessible and experience-oriented approach.

 ‘…SPACE does not “rub it in”, the artists don’t make political demagoguery worse by going into theatre demagoguery, they have a vision of the world and they are looking forward to our opinion, they do not patronize us, they take us as equal partners, as adults, they go with us in dialogue, they encourage us to self-reflection and self-irony, so we come to a state where we can laugh about ourselves and think about who we are and what kind of a world we live in.’

Tamás Koltai, in Élet és irodalom (H) about SPACE

TEAM SPACE

Petra Ardai – Theatre director, screenwriter and performer. For many years she has been working with immersive experiences that make major social issues palpable and accessible. Petra develops and monitors the overall concept of de projecten, designs the performative and interactive strategies of the  local (future) scenarios. She translates the dilemmas of the community into online and offline experiences. spaceexplorers.nl/en/ 

Sophie Leferink  projectleader, development and strategy

Jörgen Unom Gario – Performer, spoken word artist, workshop master and researcher of the colonial past, post-racism and decolonization. He is co-developer of the concept and participates in the design and moderation of the offline and online events. Jörgen can bring the political, historical and sustainability narratives together in poetry. unomjg.wordpress.com

Board of directors:

Mascha Christine Ihwe (chair)

Ramin (Firoez) Azarhoosh (secretary)

Zinzi Stasse (trustee)

David Herman (member)

Foundation:

We Are Space

Intra-UE Vat no.: NL803230862B01

Official registration no.: 41214258

IBAN: NL17 INGB 0006 9905 04

BIC: INGBNL2A