Malika Fankha
No Place Like Home
In No Place Like Home, Malika Fankha addresses the silence surrounding sexual violence within families, bringing to the table what has been repressed and deemed unspeakable, uncovering the flaws in the law and deficiencies in support systems for survivors. The performance searches for answers to how a home that was the site of crime for years can return to providing safety and comfort.
No Place Like Home addresses the silence surrounding sexual violence within family systems, aiming to raise awareness for our collective responsibility and expose incestuous behaviour hidden behind the shield of privacy. Malika Fankha examines systemic abuse of power and manipulative mechanisms on a legal, neurological and political level as well as their lifelong consequences for survivors. Starting from personal experience, Malika Fankha and the choreographer, performer and singer Oneka von Schrader ask what values are being internalised after years of humiliation and violence. How can a body, the space of which has been repeatedly violated, reclaim its autonomy? What concepts of the truth will manifest when the main narrative of one’s entire milieu is based on lies? How can a home be associated with safety and comfort again after being the site of a crime for years?
No Place Like Home explores physical and psychological states that reveal the ambivalence of repulsion and attraction towards one’s own body and others. At times trapped in endlessly recurring spirals of memory, sometimes hopeful, emboldened by queer desire.
Malika Fankha studied theatre in Zurich and contemporary dance at SEAD in Salzburg as well as at NYU Tisch and works as a dancer, poet and DJ. Mal is interested in subverting predictable narratives and carving out spaces for both precarious intimacy and campy melodrama. Their work unfolds structures and politics of desire by seeking softer weavings between sensation and sociality, by building an obstinate yet malleable matrix of connections. Mal’s previous collaborations include, among others, Tanzquartier Wien, brut Wien, WUK, ImPulsTanz, Wiener Festwochen, Tanzhaus Zürich, Südpol Luzern, Dampfzentrale Bern, Art Basel, Zentrum Paul Klee, Pianofabriek Brussels, workspacebrussels, Kaaitheater, CAMPO Ghent, BUDA Kortrijk, Cullberg Ballet Stockholm, Life Long Burning, Golden Days Copenhagen, Mladi Levi Ljubljana, Swissnex, Counterpulse San Francisco and Théâtre National du Luxembourg.
Other participants
Oneka von Schrader (she/her)works a choreographer, performer, singer and advisor. She has worked with and for artists such as Veza Fernández, Tino Sehgal, Gosia Wdowik, Krõõt Juurak and Oleg Soulimenko. Her pieces have been shown at Bâtard Festival, Brussels, Les Urbaines, Lausanne, SPRING, Utrecht, and [8:tension]/ImPulsTanz, Vienna, amongst others. Together with her sister Daphne von Schrader, she forms the duo Schrader_Schrader that develops and performs experimental concert formats. In her studio at the Semmelweisklinik Centre for Art and Culture, she researches the interrelations of art, illness, anatomy and feminism through the lens of conceptual somatics and dreamwork. Oneka von Schrader studied choreography at SNDO in Amsterdam and shiatsu in Vienna.
Asher Ó Gormáin is an Irish artist working across choreographic and visual art practices as a performance maker, dramaturge and lecturer. Her work engages closely with objects and materials, drawing out their performative agency to reveal the tactile, sensuous and existential dimensions of the "ordinary", challenging anthropocentric perspectives. She holds a BA (Hons) degree in choreography from the Dartington College of Arts (2005), a diploma in dance from SEAD – Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (2008) and an MA degree with honours in visual art (TransArts) from the Vienna University of Applied Art (2021). She has taught at the Angewandte Performance Lab (APL) in Vienna on a regular basis since 2021. In 2020, she established HOOD for Artist Parents. Her most recent work, mind numbing filthy finger potholes: a glossary of the paradox of boredom, premiered at brut Wien in 2024.
Marek Lamprecht has been working as a lighting designer for theatre, dance and performance since 1998. In his strongly dramaturgical approach, he understands lighting design as more than mere craft – as part of a collaborative process that brings about the visual realisation emerges from a shared artistic and formal exploration with the artists. Marek Lamprecht has collaborated, among others, with William Forsythe, Alexander Giesche, Christiane Pohle, Jochen Roller, Alfredo Zinola, Mette Ingvartsen, Mikaël Serre, Marisa Godoy and Michel Schröder. His work has been shown at the Akademietheater in Vienna, Kampnagel Hamburg, TAT Frankfurt, Tanzhaus NRW, HAU Berlin, Théâtre de la Bastille, Kaserne Basel, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Theaterhaus Gessnerallee, Tanzhaus Zürich and Fabriktheater Rote Fabrik. More recently, he started to teach at the Zurich University of the Arts and the Technische Berufsschule Zürich.
Rani Fankha is a Swiss/Sri Lankan artist who explores themes of identity, belonging and emotional vulnerability. She was born to a Swiss mother and a Tamil refugee father who had fled the civil war in Sri Lanka. Rani Fankha's multicultural background deeply informs her artistic practice. Trained in fashion design, she merges illustration, painting and textile creation, seamlessly blending personal narrative and introspection with broader social themes. After living in Japan and New Zealand, she is now a resident of Esperance Kepa Kurl, Australia, where her creative practice has evolved in response to the land's history and her own sense of place within it. Her work continues to explore the intersections of cultural heritage, displacement and the shared human experience.
Accessibility
The audience will be asked to relocate once during the show. Cushions or chairs will be provided for everybody.
Credits
Artistic direction, composition & performance Malika Fankha Performance Oneka von Schrader Dramaturgy Asher Ó Gormáin Light Marek Lamprecht Flyer design Rani Fankha Production management mollusca productions Residency partners im_flieger Wien, Tanzhaus Zürich Special thanks to Adnana Cruceanu & Bears in the Park
Dates & Tickets
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
On Thu. 19.02., the show will be followed by the talk Breaking Silence: On Borders, (In)Justice and Responsibility with Malika Fankha, Oneka von Schrader, Emanuel Lerch & Asher Ó Gormáin, moderation: Stefanie Sourial. Free admission. More
Content notes
The performance contains descriptions of sexual violence and anecdotical use of explicit language. If you or someone you know is affected and needs support, please contact organisations such as the TAMAR Women’s and Family Counselling Centre.
In some scenes, it uses haze.
Event recommendations
Breaking Silence: On Limits, (In)Justice and Responsibility
with Malika Fankha, Oneka von Schrader, Emanuel Lerch & Asher Ó Gormáin, moderation: Stefanie Sourial
Gin Müller, Sandra Selimović, Mariama Nzinga Diallo & Edwarda Gurrola
JUSTITIA! Identity Cases
brut all over Vienna
brut nordwest
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
accessible
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible
Breitenseer Lichtspiele
not accessible
Breitenseer Straße 21, 1140 Vienna
U-Bahn: U3 (Hütteldorfer Straße) Tram: 10 (Laurentius Platz), 49 (Hütteldorfer Straße)
WUK performing arts
barrierefrei
Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Vienna
Subway: U6 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), Tram: 40, 41, 42 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), 5, 33 (Spitalgasse), 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 (Spitalgasse / Währinger Straße)