Cat Jimenez
ruins of a shell
Grief as a strange, constantly shifting terrain: Cat Jimenez’ dance solo ruins of a shell traces the moment of reorientation after impact. What happens when the shock subsides and only traces remain? Here, between longing and irony, shells become objects of remembrance and migration – suspended between what hurts and what allows us to keep going.
In Cat Jimenez’ solo performance ruins of a shell, grief unfolds as an inner movement. In this biographical work, the dancer/choreographer follows those uncanny processes through which sensations reorganize themselves – what trembles and crumbles, what endures, and what slowly returns. Movement and atmosphere emerge from paradoxical tensions and shifting states of bittersweet irony; they condense and disperse, pulling the body into ever-new currents. The titular shell becomes a keyhole into Jimenez’ childhood – to winters spent selling Philippine goods at Vienna’s Christmas markets and carrying their scents back home. No longer associated with the sea, but with labor, longing, and cultural distance, the shell functions as a hand-wrapped souvenir of mixed emotions.
Sincerity and irony sit side by side in ruins of a shell – when grief shifts shape once again, the moment you think you’ve got it all figured out. The intertwining of biography with fleeting references to pop and subcultures, set in quiet defiance of established cultural practices, reveals a subtle contradiction: Life is rarely just one thing; rather, it is a continuous, collective reorientation within the spectrum of what hurts – and what allows us to go on.
Cat Jimenez is a dancer/choreographer based in Vienna, whose roots are in free-style culture and subcultural movement practices. With a background in fashion design and visual art, she engages in interdisciplinary co-operations in the field of performance and choreography. Her artistic practice examines how movement, music and cultural memory inform the human experience, viewing rhythm as an alchemistic force that shows what humans carry inside and with them both individually and collectively, emotionally and historically. Cat Jimenez’ own pieces have been presented, for example, at the imagetanz festival at brut Wien, the Ars Electronica Festival, Sound:Frame and the 12th Festival for Fashion and Photography. For three years in a row, Cat Jimenez curated the dance programme at the Kultursommer Wien festival. www.whadupcat.tumblr.com
Team
Martin Mitterstieler is a musician based in Vienna. Following some years as a contrabass student at the Vienna Conservatory, he discovered electronic music and started to work as a producer, sound designer, sound engineer and composer for various artists in film, theatre, dance and advertising. Mitterstieler likes to experiment with new sounds, analogue sound synthesis and the construction of synthesisers. He covers a wide range of genres, from experimental electronic music to electro pop and hardcore all the way to country music. www.martinmitterstieler.com
In her artistic work, Christiane Peschek explores the interaction of humans and technology in a hyperreality ruled by the Internet. She creates immersive experiences that speak to multiple senses so as to pose questions surrounding consciousness and ephemerality. Her art, informed by her 'cyborg' existence due to a severe physical disorder, translates trans-humanist theories into real life. By challenging the digital zeitgeist and its impact beyond traditional gender and bias concepts, Peschek also draws conventional views into question. She has exhibited internationally, at venues such as the NRW Forum Düsseldorf, the Museum Marta Herford, the Benaki Museum and the Kunsthaus Graz, and her work is part of various collections. www.christianepeschek.com
Katharina Reuschel is a couture designer born in Vienna who runs an eponymous studio in the city's 3rd district. Prior to her design training in Milan, she trained to become a master tailor with a focus on stage costume and a couturière at Valentino's in Rome. Katharina Reuschel's creations are designed to reflect her clients' individuality. She specialises in couture and costume design and celebrates fine craftsmanship. www.katharinareuschel.com
Sveta Schwin works as a freelance theatre director, author and lighting designer in Vienna. Born in Siberia in 1984, she studied performing arts in Bremen and is currently studying in Vienna to acquire a master's degree in theatre, film and media studies and a bachelor's degree in philosophy. She directs plays for children, youths and adults and works preferentially with contemporary writers. The play Pietro Pizzi, written by Flo Staffelmayr and directed by Sveta Schwin, won the Jungwild advancement prize and the 2013 STELLA prize. She performed in her own solo piece Stilles Leben ('Quiet Life') as part of Entropie at Tanzquartier Wien. She has also had her own solo piece entitled Kuss ('Kiss') that was shown in Vienna at WUK, Werk and the Wohnzimmerbiennale and got invited to the 100° Festival in Berlin. Sveta Schwin collaborates with many dance and performance groups as a lighting designer and creates her own light objects and installations.
Philippe Riéra is an artist who lives in Vienna. In addition to his performing activities with Superamas for more than 20 years, he also worked with visual artists, some of which include Markus Schinwald, Claude Wampler, Isaac Julien and Aldo Giannotti. He taught at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, at SEAD Salzburg, ImPulsTanz, Takween-Maqamat, Libanon, Tanzhaus Düsseldorf, Maison de la Culture and the École du Cirque Jules Vernes – Centre de formation professionnelle in Amiens and acted as a coach within the ImPulsTanz festival's ATLAS programme from 2014 to 2018. In 2016, he co-created the Huggy Bears programme with Caroline Madl. Over the past 15 years, Riéra mentored more than 30 projects, making use of his comprehensive experience and expertise. In 2021, he performed in the world premiere of Markus Schinwald's piece Danse Macabre at the Wiener Festwochen. From late 2020 to 2023, he was part of the jury for the Act Out touring and residency programme operated by the Austrian Association for Independent Performing Arts in the name of the Ministry for European and International Affairs. Philipp Riéra is the artistic director of Bears in the Park.
Imani Rameses is a cognitive scientist, choreographer, dancer, teacher and life-long learner for her community. Her current focus lies on a decolonial approach to understanding the anatomy of the eye, which is formed at the intersections of cognitive (emotional) psychology, participatory performance practices and alchemy. Rameses challenges beliefs of 'objective knowledge' by carefully combining her performance practices with methods of cognitive psychology and juxtaposing them with ancient African and modern alchemist technologies used by the diaspora. Her work has been shown by ImPulsTanz, Tanzquartier Wien, the Wiener Festwochen, the University of Applied Art Vienna, brut Wien, Digital Arts & Science DAS-Zürich and the Society for Artistic Research (SAR). Her research has been presented at Harvard University, the Zurich University, the Centre for Phenomenology at the University of Johannesburg and international conferences, festivals and symposiums. www.imanirameses.squarespace.com
Credits
Artistic direction, concept & performance Cat Jimenez Musical direction & composition Martin Mitterstieler Set design Christiane Peschek Costume design & styling Katharina Reuschel Lighting design Sveta Schwin Dramaturgy Imani Rameses, Philipp Riéra, Darun Dhamija Press & PR Tania Fuchs Production management Magdalena Stolhofer, Nina Samadi/dieKulturtanten
A co-production by Kulturverein Amygdala Wien/Cat Jimenez and imagetanz 2026/brut Wien
Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA7), Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Art, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS) and SKE
With the kind support of Raw Matters and Bears in the Park
Thanks to Aaron Josi Sternbauer, Alexandra Filippidou / Alex Waves and Rexx
Dates & Tickets
studio brut
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
not accessible
Info
On Wed. 11.04., the show will be followed by an artist talk, moderation: Flori Gugger.
Content notes
The performance features fumigation (Cedarwood, Kamangyan/Filipino incense, Blue Lotus), which will cause smoke. Also, the performance features haze.
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Handle with care feat. Huggy Bears Part 3 & 4
with Daria Nosik and Sunggu Hong
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B-MOVIES
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
Bears in the Park Art Place
not accessible
Eyzinggasse 12, 1110 Vienna
U-Bahn: U3 (Gasometer) Bus: 72A (Gasometer), 76A, 76B (Simoningplatz)
not accessible
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)
Der Betrieb
accessible
Vogelweidplatz 13, 1150 Wien
Subway: U6 (Burggasse-Stadthalle) / Bus: 48A (Moeringgasse) / Tram: 9 (Camillo Sitte Gasse)