In 2009 Thomas Bellinck (Recklinghausen, 1983) graduates as a theatre director from the RITS, the Brussels school for audio-visual and dramatic arts. Before training as a theatre director Thomas studies Germanic Philology at the University of Leuven. During his education at the Rits he performs in several productions at Nieuwpoorttheater, Theater Antigone, and Arsenaal. Having been selected for Het Theaterfestival 2009 for a political action with illegalized immigrants on a hunger strike, he opens the festival with a speech entitled We were dying and then we got a prize. The same year, together with Ewout D'Hoore, he creates a play together with inmates at the Leuven Auxiliary Prison, the rehearsal process of which is captured in the documentary TV series Leuven Hulp.
In 2015, together with writer and theatre maker Pieter De Buysser, Thomas establishes the Brussels-based, artist-run production society ROBIN. The collectively autonomous society consists of Pieter, Thomas and alternating guest artists. As a visiting professor, Thomas occasionally teaches drama at the Brussels Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound and at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, as well as scenography at La Cambre. From 2017 onwards, Thomas has been working as a PhD researcher in the arts at KASK / School of Arts (HoGent).

More info: www.thomasbellinck.com

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that hunting humans was an art. It was to be practised against others who were destined by nature to be governed. To what extent has his text influenced thinking and justified violence over the centuries? And what are its implications 2,400 years later? How clear-cut or reversible are the categories of 'the hunters', 'the onlookers' and 'the hunted'? Mixing object theatre and sound installation, Simple as ABC #3: The Wild Hunt will try to piece together a many-voiced portrait of today’s humanhunt.  

The Wild Hunt is the third instalment of Thomas Bellinck’s growing series that examines the Western migration machine. It follows a theatrical essay about cutting-edge detection technology (Man vs. Machine) and a documentary musical about the digitalization of migration management (Keep Calm and Validate).

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Thomas Bellinck was in residence at Camargo from January 28 to February 8, 2019, in partnership with Festival de Marseille.