The term ‘home’ has undergone fundamental change for many people in recent years. During the pandemic, the public realms of the office and school blended in with personal family life. Human relationships and private congregations were controlled by the authorities, and even theatre took place at home, in front of a screen, if at all.

For The Feeling of Home, the two old White men of the Vienna performance scene reclaim the stage as what it has always been for them: their home, which they share with the audience. Oleg Soulimenko is from Russia, Frans Poelstra from the Netherlands. They have both been living in Austria for many years. However, they needed to build this new home for themselves first. And given their biographies, raised in different political systems, appropriating a new home posed quite different challenges to both of them.
As an added bonus, and to counteract the dark, cold season, Oleg Soulimenko and Frans Poelstra kindly ask spectators to bring a musical instrument. To have a jam session following the performance, and also to invite warmth, light, and cosiness into their stage home. Oh, and don’t worry, you don’t have to be professionals. They aren’t either.

Oleg Soulimenko is an artist who enjoys doing too many different things. He grew up in a big city, where it was forbidden both to listen to rock’n’roll and to dance shirtless. Nevertheless, he did both. He works in the fields of performance art and contemporary dance in Austria, Europe, and the United States. Oleg Soulimenko moans the loss of humanitarian values in his home country. He is deeply ashamed for the Russian invasion in Ukraine and condemns it strongly. He firmly stands by the people in Ukraine.

When he was a child, Frans Poelstra spent a lot of time staring into the canals of Amsterdam rather than going to school. He dreamt of becoming the next Jimi Hendrix. For lack of a talent to play the guitar, he decided to work in art, the field where you’re allowed to dream professionally. In his works, Frans Poelstra mixes dance with theatre, music, and visual art in a manner that makes people wonder: ‘Am I dreaming this, is it actually possible or at least acceptable?’ Like Soulimenko, Poelstra also works in performance art and contemporary dance in Austria and Europe, but no longer in the United States. He is still pretty vain and very busy maintaining a flat belly, which is not all that easy at his age.

Oliver Stotz is a musician, composer, programmer, sound and video engineer. He has played in various bands, such as Pendler, Gustav & Band, Kinky Muppet, and since 2022 in the guitar ensemble In The Hills, The Cities. He has worked extensively in the fields of music, theatre, and film with the likes of Helene Weinzierl, Sabine Marte, Lisa Spalt, Eva Jantschitsch, Jan Machacek, Dieb13, Billy Roisz, and Oleg Soulimenko.