Deja Boo 

A composed improvisation* for voice, kick drum and self-care tools

dedicated to the "fear of healing"

 

By Özgür Erkök Moroder

 

31.10.2025, 20:00h

 

Hosek Contemporary

Maerkisches Ufer, 1z, 10179, Berlin

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As a part of the solo exhibition “Somatic Algorithm" (13-21.06.25)

An evolving loop of a seance in a rabbit hole, connecting to the primitive tunes of the soma.

 

Deja Boo is a performance piece, structured with a set of guidelines and actions, referring to John Cage’s “composed improvisation for snare drum”. It is an experiment in dynamics of the concept of healing  and self-care practices in a ritualistic manner through sound and movement.

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The performance addresses healing and transformation on both individual and collective levels. It's an attempt to develop strategies of resistance in today’s world, where we even struggle to focus on unfolding events as we suffer wound upon wound amidst the simultaneity of disasters and tragedies that are weaving the fabric of everyday life. 

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Healing nor therapy are not fun and relaxing processes as they are written on a shower gel. Healing hurts. Healing means taking risks and daring to change. Healing is a process. The opposite of choosing to live in a constant state of crisis, keeping the wounds open as a comfort zone where we know how to live in.

 

 

There the piece focuses on utilizing the body as a sound instrument as well as the self-care products, repurposing these tools by assigning them unconventional functions and transforming wellness practices. There the voice is an essential element as the main instrument performing and exploring the primitive sounds rooted in the subconsciousness of the soma.

 

 The audience witnesses the performer’s transformation and reconnection with the self in unconventional ways. Repetitive yet evolving set of actions and their sounds explore the factor of risk in the process of healing; therefore the correlation between care and pain.

 

 

The title is a wordplay, combining “déjà vu”—the feeling of experiencing a new situation as if you have lived it before—with “boo”, an expression used to frighten. It aims to create a framework based on the notions of feeling of repetition and fear, bringing them together with “healing”. 

 

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*Composed improvisation" refers to works by John Cage that, rather than being fully notated, offer a framework of instructions and guidelines for the performer, thus incorporating improvisation within a predefined structure.

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photos: Mari Vass