BURN GLASS GATE
90 min.
Creation, text & direction: Carly Rae Heathcote
Creation, scenography & costume design: Manuela Vilanova
Burn Glass Gate showcases large-scale theatrical images and narratives, where characters navigate the tensions between doubt and belief, fascination and horror. As a spectator, you embark on a humorous journey that repeatedly leads you astray.
Set in the now, we see three characters cross one another over and over again, their lives appear stagnant until the disappearance of one of the characters exposes the fragile grip they have on what they consider to be true. Focused on a thin line between truth and madness, a fictional world arises that both seduces and deceives the spectator.
︎ e-tcetera.be
“What strikes one immediately in the performance is in fact the visual element which mirrors the barren jumble referred to throughout the text. Manuela Vilanova creates an almost palpable scenography out of beige whose diversity of texture seems to come alive with the performers’ interaction. After the fog from the fire clears, the two main platforms are transformed into large upright mirrors, reflecting the gaze of the audience back at them; the enclosure of the audience, in turn, foreshadows the closed circuit of the eventual play-within-a-play. The costumes are no less multilayered, fabric upon fabric wrapped and crunched and folded on the performers’ bodies like a second sculptural element. At times the visuals feel like an installation, but that is not a bad thing: it grounds the performance against the destructive bewilderment of the characters.”
Review writer Caroline Lee-Jeong
Performance: Anna Franziska Jäger, Jana De Kockere & Estefanía Álvarez Ramírez
Sound design & Composition: Helen Olhausen
Dramaturgical advice: Jana De Kockere
Text coaching: Lara Ferrari tummma
Technical production: Wim Bernaers
Platform technical design & construction: Roeland Dubbel & Vincent Vergote
Production manager: Zita de Vos
Production: Carly Rae Heathcote & workspacebrussels (Brussels)
Coproduction: C-Takt (Pelt), DE SINGEL (Antwerp), workspacebrussels (Brussels)
Residencies: CAMPO (Ghent), workspacebrussels (Brussels)
With support from: the Flemish Community
Thanks to: Cathrin Jarema, Nathan Ooms, Ferre Vuye, Miguel Peñaranda Olmeda, Stef Assandri, Jackie Shallcross-platt, KAAP, Theater aan Zee
Images by Studio Pramudiya and Britt Ryckebosch
90 min.
Creation, text & direction: Carly Rae Heathcote
Creation, scenography & costume design: Manuela Vilanova
Burn Glass Gate showcases large-scale theatrical images and narratives, where characters navigate the tensions between doubt and belief, fascination and horror. As a spectator, you embark on a humorous journey that repeatedly leads you astray.
Set in the now, we see three characters cross one another over and over again, their lives appear stagnant until the disappearance of one of the characters exposes the fragile grip they have on what they consider to be true. Focused on a thin line between truth and madness, a fictional world arises that both seduces and deceives the spectator.
︎ e-tcetera.be
“What strikes one immediately in the performance is in fact the visual element which mirrors the barren jumble referred to throughout the text. Manuela Vilanova creates an almost palpable scenography out of beige whose diversity of texture seems to come alive with the performers’ interaction. After the fog from the fire clears, the two main platforms are transformed into large upright mirrors, reflecting the gaze of the audience back at them; the enclosure of the audience, in turn, foreshadows the closed circuit of the eventual play-within-a-play. The costumes are no less multilayered, fabric upon fabric wrapped and crunched and folded on the performers’ bodies like a second sculptural element. At times the visuals feel like an installation, but that is not a bad thing: it grounds the performance against the destructive bewilderment of the characters.”
Review writer Caroline Lee-Jeong
Performance: Anna Franziska Jäger, Jana De Kockere & Estefanía Álvarez Ramírez
Sound design & Composition: Helen Olhausen
Dramaturgical advice: Jana De Kockere
Text coaching: Lara Ferrari tummma
Technical production: Wim Bernaers
Platform technical design & construction: Roeland Dubbel & Vincent Vergote
Production manager: Zita de Vos
Production: Carly Rae Heathcote & workspacebrussels (Brussels)
Coproduction: C-Takt (Pelt), DE SINGEL (Antwerp), workspacebrussels (Brussels)
Residencies: CAMPO (Ghent), workspacebrussels (Brussels)
With support from: the Flemish Community
Thanks to: Cathrin Jarema, Nathan Ooms, Ferre Vuye, Miguel Peñaranda Olmeda, Stef Assandri, Jackie Shallcross-platt, KAAP, Theater aan Zee
Images by Studio Pramudiya and Britt Ryckebosch
2024
Aphex Continuums
Mentions:
︎superfuture.com
︎ archdaily.cl
Aphex Continuums is a site-specific installation created for hairstylist Ignacio Sarube’s Art Deco studio in Montevideo, transforming the space into a terrain of fragmented reflection and perceptual shifts.
At its core, Aphex Arcan disrupts the symmetry of the original fireplace with a sprawling shattered mirror intervention that splinters light, space, and self-image—evoking a state of ongoing transformation. In the styling area, three totemic sculptures crafted from raw concrete and mirrored surfaces rise to 260 cm, echoing brutalist forms while resonating with the studio’s geometric elegance. These 360° navigable pieces blur boundaries between interior and exterior, solidity and reflection, inviting an immersive encounter where architecture and body fold into one another.
Photos Sebastian Aguilar, Adriana A. Navarro.
Architectural design Toro Arquitectos
Mentions:
︎superfuture.com
︎ archdaily.cl
Aphex Continuums is a site-specific installation created for hairstylist Ignacio Sarube’s Art Deco studio in Montevideo, transforming the space into a terrain of fragmented reflection and perceptual shifts.
At its core, Aphex Arcan disrupts the symmetry of the original fireplace with a sprawling shattered mirror intervention that splinters light, space, and self-image—evoking a state of ongoing transformation. In the styling area, three totemic sculptures crafted from raw concrete and mirrored surfaces rise to 260 cm, echoing brutalist forms while resonating with the studio’s geometric elegance. These 360° navigable pieces blur boundaries between interior and exterior, solidity and reflection, inviting an immersive encounter where architecture and body fold into one another.
Photos Sebastian Aguilar, Adriana A. Navarro.
Architectural design Toro Arquitectos
2023
2024
2024
3D model artworks by Manuela Vilanova. Image rendering by Gonzalo Castelló
Invisible Unquiet Bodies Still Silent
Invisible Unquiet Bodies Still Silent is a performance-installation that traces the silent imprints of memory through body, voice, and material. Voiced in the first person, themes of abandonment, death, and transformation surface gently, challenging inherited narratives and exposing the politics of form and presence. Developed at Het Bos (Antwerp), the piece brings together Manuela Vilanova, Carly Rae Heathcote, Miguel Peñaranda, and dancer Noemí Gimenez, in collaboration with Joaquín Burgariotti (printmaking), Mariel M. Matute (jewelry), and Mau Bigliante (sound design).
Invisible Unquiet Bodies Still Silent is a performance-installation that traces the silent imprints of memory through body, voice, and material. Voiced in the first person, themes of abandonment, death, and transformation surface gently, challenging inherited narratives and exposing the politics of form and presence. Developed at Het Bos (Antwerp), the piece brings together Manuela Vilanova, Carly Rae Heathcote, Miguel Peñaranda, and dancer Noemí Gimenez, in collaboration with Joaquín Burgariotti (printmaking), Mariel M. Matute (jewelry), and Mau Bigliante (sound design).
2018
Transmission Inside Out
Curatorship and Installation work.
Transgressive in nature, this work unfolds within a continually evolving space, creating a new territory where life is breathed into the artificial—a second nature defined by the only certainty: change.
The artworks draw from a diverse range of materials, including concrete, steel, glass, water, ceramics, silicone, textiles, light, and sound.
Curatorship and Installation work.
Transgressive in nature, this work unfolds within a continually evolving space, creating a new territory where life is breathed into the artificial—a second nature defined by the only certainty: change.
The artworks draw from a diverse range of materials, including concrete, steel, glass, water, ceramics, silicone, textiles, light, and sound.
2020
Parque Gentil
Art Residency
Parque Gentil is an installation created during the Ponte d'Arte residency, in Portugal. Composed of five structures made from materials like concrete, burnt steel, local clay, berries, and fragments salvaged from past fires. Set in a rural Portuguese house, the piece unfolds as a series of “artificial gardens” — spaces that hold grief, memory, and quiet resistance. It invites reflection on how personal and collective wounds shape the landscape, offering a meditative terrain where care becomes political and presence a form of action.
Art Residency
Parque Gentil is an installation created during the Ponte d'Arte residency, in Portugal. Composed of five structures made from materials like concrete, burnt steel, local clay, berries, and fragments salvaged from past fires. Set in a rural Portuguese house, the piece unfolds as a series of “artificial gardens” — spaces that hold grief, memory, and quiet resistance. It invites reflection on how personal and collective wounds shape the landscape, offering a meditative terrain where care becomes political and presence a form of action.
2019
Incantation Ploy
Theater / Performance
Director and Script - Carly Heathcote
Art Direction and Sound Dramaturgy - Manuela Vilanova
Performed by - Anna Franziska Jäger and Musia Mwankumi
Sound Design - Lila Tirando a Violeta
Mesmerizing and thought-provoking, 'The Incantation Ploy' seamlessly blends fate, prophecy, and diverse eras, immersing us in a world where possession blurs with control.
In a speculative-future setting, the play delves into the convergence of narratives and chaos. Modern figures merge with mystical archetypes, resulting in a multi-layered experience that intertwines poetics, fake news, and sci-fi.
Themes of narrative power and enchantment converge, influenced by Sara Ahmed's suppression through happiness narratives and Sylvia Federici's de-enchantment in early capitalism. This exploration transforms the magical body into a mechanized automaton, urging us to embrace the uncanny in our existence.
Theater / Performance
Director and Script - Carly Heathcote
Art Direction and Sound Dramaturgy - Manuela Vilanova
Performed by - Anna Franziska Jäger and Musia Mwankumi
Sound Design - Lila Tirando a Violeta
Mesmerizing and thought-provoking, 'The Incantation Ploy' seamlessly blends fate, prophecy, and diverse eras, immersing us in a world where possession blurs with control.
In a speculative-future setting, the play delves into the convergence of narratives and chaos. Modern figures merge with mystical archetypes, resulting in a multi-layered experience that intertwines poetics, fake news, and sci-fi.
Themes of narrative power and enchantment converge, influenced by Sara Ahmed's suppression through happiness narratives and Sylvia Federici's de-enchantment in early capitalism. This exploration transforms the magical body into a mechanized automaton, urging us to embrace the uncanny in our existence.
2021
