Radical Space x Ancestor Work #1 (2026)

During Radical Space, Ancestor Work unfolded — a performance by movement artist and spiritual practitioner Desta Deekman and Damani Leidsman. Drawing on the Winti tradition and their deep knowledge of West African dance practices, the performance explored what happens when the primary audience is not the people gathered in Bookshop at International Theater Amsterdam, but the ancestors in the spirit world.

This is a big challenge, because in the many decades of the theatre's history, it has hosted many spirits: from colonial investors financing the theatre to Nelson Mandela addressing the crowds on Leidseplein from its balcony.

The result was an encounter between the living, the architecture of the theatre and the unseen. Our shared attention then becoming a form of ancestral offering. A conversation between worlds.