Stream the premiere of the video recordings from the 2025 Performance Art Festival Bodies Craving to Believe organized by tranzit.cz. Five performances took place during the third edition of the festival, which was held on November 7 at Čistírna1906 in the Bubeneč neighborhood of Prague. The videos capture performances by Aliza Orlan, Dominik Styk and co., Miriama Kardošová, eva susova, and Alex Franz Zehetbauer from the perspective of the audience that filled the halls of the former wastewater treatment plant, which still bears elements of its original water filtration and treatment systems. These performances by artists from across Europe are united by the theme of queer corporeality, and most of them either premiered at the festival or were adapted specifically for the postindustrial spaces of Čistírna1906. The recordings capture a unique and comprehensive collection of contemporary performance art that can no longer be seen together in physical form.

Miriama Kardošová presented the premiere of her new performance Shake my hair over the dirt we sweat off, in which she confronts her own femininity and fights against patriarchal expectations and stereotypes. The video also captures the unexpected and disturbing conclusion of the entire work. Born in 1988, Kardošová is a Slovak interdisciplinary artist based in Prague. Initially known for her expressive, large-scale oil paintings dealing with mental health stigmas, the patriarchy, and her personal experience with depressive-anxiety disorder, she shifted away from painting due to its creative constraints.

In her performance and installation thorns grow out of my body, which opened the festival, Aliza Orlan draws on depictions of femininity in fairy tales, mythology, and pop culture. The personal and intimate work highlights the trans feminine experience of corporeality and the crossing of gender boundaries. Born in 1990, Orlan is a Bratislava-based visual artist who works with drawing, textile installations, performance, and poetry. Her work explores themes of gender identity, physical intimacy, sexuality, transformation, and critiques of binarity.

Dominik Styk and co. prepared their performance Pissed Prophet for the impressive great hall of the former wastewater treatment plant. Performers embodying a bladder and a fish weave a story that connects the physiological processes of the human body and their anthropological interpretations. Styk was born in 1996 and studied at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg under Michaela Melián and Kader Attia. His background in scenography (DAMU, Prague) deeply informs his practice, which is characterized by the frequent use of textiles and wearable objects that reference the human body and are often incorporated into installations and performances.

eva susova, in tandem with Publik Universal Frxnd, combined breath, laughter, spoken word, and cello playing to create a “queer assemblage” with a touch of eroticism. susova is an interdisciplinary artist who works with performance, sound, and sculpture. Their work explores the connections between embodied knowledge, the female voice, and systems of power and control. Through performative installations, they attempt to queer space, time, and social paradigms.

Alex Franz Zehetbauer closed the evening with his queer stand-up show sixsixsix, which captivated the audience with its poetic and self-deprecating take on the aspects of human corporeality that are pushed to the fringes of interest and attention. Zehetbauer, who was born in 1990, is a performance artist and vocalist who works at the intersection of performance, music, visual arts, and choreography. In his performances he beguiles with sophisticated melodies, strange vocal escapades, and unexpected twists.

Set design and lighting design: Tereza Bartůňková, Petr Cuker
Camera: Šimon Dvořáček, Tomáš Uhlík
Camera assistant: Miroslav Martínek
Sound: Daniel Valášek, Jan Duben
Editing: Sebastián Kučkovský
Executive producer: Max Dvořák, tranzit.cz
Dramaturgy: František Fekete, tranzit.cz
Production: Jakob Schubert
Technical production: Marek Bozděch, Robin Seidl
Production assistant: Frederik Statwald
Graphic design: Day Shift Office
Image post-production: Tomáš Uhlík
Data management: Nela Pietrová
Executive Director, tranzit.cz: Tereza Stejskalová
Financial Manager, tranzit.cz: Pamela Kuťáková
Production, tranzit.cz: Nika Schnitzerová, Karin Akai
Special thanks to: Čistírna1906, Petrohradská kolektiv, Medard Zeman, Ondřej Šorm, Lunchmeat Studio
Main partner of tranzit.cz: ERSTE Foundation
Media partners: A2, Artalk, ArtMap, ČT art, Kapitál, Deník Alarm
With the support of: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, City of Prague, Danish Arts Foundation, Austrian Cultural Forum

The performance documentation project was implemented with financial support from the European Union through the National Recovery Plan and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.