Brothers exalt thee to freedom

In Brothers exalt thee to freedom, human labor confronts mechanical efficiency. Ten Bulgarian performers, seasonal workers themselves, sing the historical workers’ song of the same name, surrounded by the ceaseless motions of robots in an automated distribution centre. For eight hours a day, their voices soar above the robotic rhythm, and even their breaks follow the schedules used Bol’s e-commerce distribution centres.

By juxtaposing robotics and singing, the performance interrogates the value of the working body, the labour movement, and the legacy of socialism in an age of automation. As humans are set to compete with machines, precarity becomes inevitable. The continuous, frictionless flow of goods we are used to is made possible only by vulnerable workers, whose songs carry the memory of solidarity, struggle and hope.

The work extends beyond the live performance. In 2021, visitors to art institute West Den Haag could also enter the workers’ and performers’ living quarters. Two video works were created for the exhibition, foregrounding the performers’ personal perspectives. In To Perform, a three-channel video installation, they reflect on the contemporary workplace and its possible futures. The documentary The Recruitment traces the development of the project in Bulgaria and reveals the painful realities of the international labour market that surfaced during the creative process. Together, these works compose a portrait of individuals caught between personal dignity and systemic exploitation.

The jury of the VSCD Performance Award 2021 wrote: “In his multidisciplinary diptych Brothers exalt thee to freedom on capitalist globalisation, Dries Verhoeven reveals how the human spirit of workers from low-wage countries can endure and resist, even as their bodies are exploited.”

In Brothers exalt thee to freedom, human labor confronts mechanical efficiency. Ten Bulgarian performers, seasonal workers themselves, sing the historical workers’ song of the same name, surrounded by the ceaseless motions of robots in an automated distribution centre. For eight hours a day, their voices soar above the robotic rhythm, and even their breaks follow the schedules used Bol’s e-commerce distribution centres.

By juxtaposing robotics and singing, the performance interrogates the value of the working body, the labour movement, and the legacy of socialism in an age of automation. As humans are set to compete with machines, precarity becomes inevitable. The continuous, frictionless flow of goods we are used to is made possible only by vulnerable workers, whose songs carry the memory of solidarity, struggle and hope.

The work extends beyond the live performance. In 2021, visitors to art institute West Den Haag could also enter the workers’ and performers’ living quarters. Two video works were created for the exhibition, foregrounding the performers’ personal perspectives. In To Perform, a three-channel video installation, they reflect on the contemporary workplace and its possible futures. The documentary The Recruitment traces the development of the project in Bulgaria and reveals the painful realities of the international labour market that surfaced during the creative process. Together, these works compose a portrait of individuals caught between personal dignity and systemic exploitation.

The jury of the VSCD Performance Award 2021 wrote: “In his multidisciplinary diptych Brothers exalt thee to freedom on capitalist globalisation, Dries Verhoeven reveals how the human spirit of workers from low-wage countries can endure and resist, even as their bodies are exploited.”

Video

Video by Wouter van Elderen.

Press

"One by one, the performers share personal thoughts and anecdotes. Through their stories, I get to know the nuances of life on production floors."

Manuela Zammit visited the exhibition in West Den Haag for Metropolis M (8 July 2021)Read the article (in English)

"Welcome to the global economy." - "The beauty of the singing robot ballet lingers in my mind. [...] The scenes keep beckoning like sirens."

For Theaterkrant Fransien van der Putt visited the work during SPRING and the exhibition in West Den Haag (24 May 2021)Read the review (in Dutch)

"These days we stumble over our good intentions, they deprive us of looking at our own ambivalent actions. I don't really believe in setting an example anyway. I prefer to put my head on the chopping block; artwork succeeded, artist dies."

Alex de Vries visited the exhibition in West Den Haag for online contemporary art magazine Mister Motley (24 June 2021)Read the article (in Dutch)

"As is often the case with a repetitive work of art, the duration forces the viewer towards a certain surrender, and a sharpened perception. The loop that holds the Bulgarians captive contains an intriguing composition: repeatedly the roar of the machines swells as the singers sing silently. Actually, there is a dreamy beauty in the installation."

Marijn van der Jagt in De Groene Amsterdammer (9 June 2021)Read the article (in Dutch)

"As always, Verhoeven manages to attract the attention of his spectators with a seemingly simple and effective image. The beauty of all his work is that he brings big, complicated themes back to its essence. On the one hand, it is confrontational, but it also shows compassion for its subject."

Vincent Kouters in de Volkskrant (21 May 2021)Read the review (in Dutch)

"You can stay as long as you want, and with that Verhoeven immediately confronts you with a dilemma: when do you stop looking, when you are face to face with these people, who have to complete eight hours a day?"

Sander Janssens in NRC (24 May 2021)Read the review (in Dutch)

"I want to share the discomfort I experience in everyday life. Moments when I don't know what to do or what to make of something. I want to put that on a stage or in a museum."

Dries Verhoeven was a guest at Kunststof Radio. At the premiere live from Stadsschouwburg Utrecht in an interview with Gijs Groenteman (21 May 2021)Listen to the podcast (in Dutch)

Nomination Dutch Performance Award

Brothers exalt thee to freedom was nominated for the Dutch Performance Award 2020 and 2021.

The jury about the work:

“With his multidisciplinary diptych ‘Brothers exalt thee to freedom’ about capitalist globalisation, Dries Verhoeven shows how the individual spirit of workers from low-wage countries can triumph over their exploited bodies. The old Dutch, socialist song that ten Bulgarian seasonal workers sing for eight hours in a distribution centre taken over by robots is a dreamy protest against their interchangeability. In an art institution in The Hague, the performers’ home for three months, a layered documentary and a three-channel video brought their rich inner world intimately close.”

Video works The recruitment & To perform

There are two video works that are part of ‘Brothers exalt thee to freedom’:

Watch the three-channel video work ‘To perform’
Watch the documentary ‘The recruitment’

Email info@driesverhoeven.com to request the password for ‘The recruitment’.

Filming and editing by Wouter van Elderen.

podcast and radio

After her visit to Broeders verheft u ter vrijheid, an emotional Hanneke Groenteman calls Gijs Groenteman and Teun van de Keuken. An excerpt from episode #28 of the podcast ‘Teun & Gijs vertellen alles’. (in Dutch)

lyrics work song

Brothers, exalt thee to freedom!
Brothers, rise up into the light!
Shining on the dark past
Now stands the future.
Shining on the dark past
Now stands the future.

Behold an endless flood of millions
Swarming from the dark of night.
Until our immeasurable desire
Floods heaven and night.
Until our immeasurable desire
Floods heaven and night.

Put thy hands together
Brothers, and go down smiling
End the disgrace of slavery!
Hallowed be the last battle!
End the disgrace of slavery!
Hallowed be the last battle!

Original version: ‘Smelo, towarischtschi, w nogu’,
Leonid Petrovich Radin, 1895
Translation: Cindy Hock, 2021

Credits

concept Dries Verhoeven
cast Irina Angelova, Rilka Charovna, Boryana Dzhivdzhanova, Petyo Gyudyulev, Blagovest Ilchevski, Kalin Kupenov, Miroslav Mihov, Valentina Panova, Valentin Stankov, Antonia Tochka
production Studio Dries Verhoeven
dramaturgy Hellan Godee & Miguel A. Melgares
stage manager Niels Runderkamp
AGV robotics Tom Dalhuisen
programmer robotarms Casper Wortmann
programmer systems control Sylvain Vriens
sound design Peer Thielen, Rutger Verberkmoes
technical manager Roel Evenhuis
technique Marko Meijer, Niklas van Woerden
intern technical production Titus Duitshof
vocal coach Dimitar Arnaudov & Julia Scepanovic
casting & production Sofia, Bulgaria Christian Bakalov
set construction Maarten Smids, Niklas van Woerden, Merijn Versnel

Works