While Helena Araújo is sitting in a deckchair on the beach in her solo performance and it gets better, lecturing about warning signals or maybe fending off a couple of sharks, she humorously shares intimate stories and secret fears with the audience. And she tells of the times when curators had the weird habit of constantly referring to her as ‘Helena Araújo from Brazil’.

Emotions splash out with no sign of shame on this artificial, theatrical beach – splash, splash, splash! The shore gets wet, as the audience might from the saltwater. But it gets even better! Helena Araújo challenges the common idea that artists become more valuable the more they do – by trying the exact opposite: to do nothing. She fails, she tries again, she fails… being a freelance worker is no picnic. And hey, Araújo is still trying to find ways to deal with getting hurt, and she won’t give up any time soon. After all, things are bound to get better sooner or later.

Helena Araújo is an enthusiastic femme maker and performer, lover of twists and clown full of kitsch and bad jokes. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, she currently lives in Vienna. Her work has been presented at various places, including Radiant Nights Festival (BE), Venuše ve Švehlovce Theatre (CZ), Moving Futures Festival (NL), FDS Festival (CH), De Nieuwe Vorst (NL), Pinkbus Platform (CZ), Paradise Cabaret (IE) and House of Circus Cabaret Night (NL). As a performer, she has worked with the following artists: TRASH Performance Group (NL), Ivo Dimchev (BG), Renan Martins (DE/BR), Martin Talaga (CZ/SK), Petra Tejnorová (CZ/SK).

About Bears in the Park and the ‘HUGGY BEARS mentoring program’:

Since 2016, Huggy Bears has been a pillar of innovative performance art, supporting emerging artists in Vienna. Each year, the mentoring programme provides three or four individuals or collectives with comprehensive support in areas from production to administration, equipment and dramaturgy. In a series of different presentation formats as well as regular feedback sessions within the group, the young artists’ projects develop into very special pieces. At the end of the nine-month programme, the mentees get to present their performance projects for the first time on a big stage in Vienna. This year, the Huggy Bears Days will be held as a co-operation between brut Wien and WUK performing arts. The programme is operated by the initiative Bears in the Park run by Philippe Riéra and Charlotte Bastam. The initiative is dedicated to supporting the Viennese performance scene and helping it grow. To foster this goal, the HUGGY BEARS are offered not only reliable advisors but also rehearsal spaces. Each autumn, Bears in the Park releases an open call for artists to submit their project proposals for the following year.