What You See and Theater Utrecht, in collaboration with Goldendean (AKA Dean Hutton), are inviting “soft body” performers from Utrecht to collaborate in a new performance work to be developed during their City of Utrecht residency – Stay Soft in Hard Times during What You See Festival on 19 November!
 

What You See is an international and multidisciplinary arts festival exploring gender and identity. Theater Utrecht is a diverse, disruptive and passionate city-based theatre company. Together, we are joining forces to support and provide a platform for creators and artists who produce innovative art that challenges the status quo. 
 

Do you want to reply to this Open Call? Please send a short motivation + CV + an impression of yourself through video or images of previous work to programmering@whatyouseefestival.nl before September 10, you will receive a response and/or invitation by September 24. You must be available on all the residency days listed below and be available for an online interview between Sept 13-18 if selected. 
 

The selection will take place by Goldendean, What You See and Theater Utrecht, a short (online) introduction meeting can be part of the selection
 

Who is Goldendean?

Goldendean (they/them) makes trouble. Working at the intersections of trans media visual culture, performance and community action, their practice bridges genres of documentary, fiction and fantasy to produce radical queer counter narratives, and experiences for repair and resistance.

AKA Dean Hutton, their strategy of simple disruptive actions share moments of soft courage, affirming the rights of all bodies to exist, be celebrated, and protected. An artist-in-residence at the University of Johannesburg, their research embraces collaborative praxis and embodied play to produce new forms of artWork.

What is this Call?

What? We’re looking for two performers with (preferably) a connection to Utrecht who’d like to work alongside Goldendean during a five-day residency to develop a performance/research presentation for What You See. The performance will take place during What You See Festival on Thursday, November 19 2026.

Who is it for? 

The research is open to (preferably) Utrecht-based performance artists either self-taught or non-self-taught. We are looking for performers with non-normative fat queer bodies to join this research.

When is the Residency? 

• 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17 November (residency), 10am to 5pm
• research presentation on 19 November.
   

Practicalities

• Budget: 5 working days of €250,- a day + a performance fee of €400,-
• Working days (residency) from: 10am to 5pm
• Performance on November 19 at 19:00h
• You will receive access to the rest of the program of What You See Festival 

Questions? Mail Vera Bonder at programmering@whatyouseefestival.nl