Cult Baby: against SUFFOCATION

/ Concert-Performance / 18+ yrs / German + English / zeitraumexit @ T6/18 / 

How does history live on? A chance discovery in the Mannheim archives: the mention of ‘a few wicked women’ in the Ortenau witch register. Schutterwald, south-west Germany, 1557: the story of Anna Sütterlin, the name of (my) great-grandmother, and a pre-feminist alliance nipped in the bud, if you will. Following the trail of historical witch tales, internet aesthetics and contemporary witch hunts, the böse blumen seek self-determined ecstasy, resistance and care, conjuring up a witch-house rave.

By and with: Nana Bauernfeind, Lea Bäurle, Christina Bergemann, Sebastian Horn, Gina Lauser, Rebecca Okechukwu, Leya Christin Wüllner, Lola Yolanda Zbornik.

As part of the performance “Cult Baby: against SUFFOCATION” by böse blumen on October 23 and 24, 2026, elements of the exhibition “Holding Each Other: Community Care in Times of Crisis” (Queer Festival Heidelberg 2026) will be revisited: 

Hana Ibrahim’s photo series “Betty’s” (2019, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan/Iraq) follows Betty through a process that oscillates between concealment and revelation, between the desire for self-determination and the conditions of a reality in which visibility also entails risk. Transition appears as a fragmented process of self-recognition, marked by psychological and emotional turmoil, that often takes place in secret. Between protection and exposure, withdrawal and performative self-creation, fragile spaces emerge in which one’s own becoming becomes possible.

Sensory stimuli: strobe lights, intense lighting effects, stage fog, natural materials that may cause allergic reactions, high volume
Note on content: The performance explores themes relating to the complex issue of sexualised discrimination. It features explicit, and in some cases sexualised, depictions of the body and bodily fluids, and makes use of religious symbolism.

“Cult Baby: against suffocation” is part of the performative program celebrating zeitraumexit´s 25th jubilee. zeitraumexit turns 25! 25 years of performance art, experimental laboratory, aesthetic research, projects across all genres and socio-cultural projects. 25 years of dazzling, risk, and the unexpected. We celebrate a quarter of a century of zeitraumexit with a performative Jubilee program that explores time and temporality. 
View program

Photos: Sebastian Horn + Leya Christin Wüllner