Belle Santos (Set and Costume Design) holds a Master’s degree in Performance Studies from Goldsmiths College London and studied stage and costume design at the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee. During her studies, she was awarded the Deutschlandstipendium Mart Stam and received emerging artist support from the city of Friedrichshafen. After assistantships at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Münchner Kammerspiele, she collaborated with artists such as Elsa Jach, Rimini Protokoll, Ran Chai Bar-zvi, Kieran Joel, Tilman Hecker, and Samara Hersch, and has co-curated the “Next Waves Theater” at the Volksbühne Berlin since 2020.
She designed the costumes for the durational performance REMAIN CALM by artist Nile Koetting, shown at Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Shanghai, the Sharjah Art Foundation, and Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Most recently, she was responsible for the costume design of “2038” in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2021.
Since 2015, she has been part of the artistic direction of the immersive performance group The Agency. With The Agency, she was a fellow at the Saison Foundation in Tokyo and PACT Zollverein in Essen. So far, twelve productions have been created (such as MEDUSA BIONIC RISE, PERFECT ROMANCE, STRETCH MARKS), which have been presented both nationally and internationally—at the Athens Biennale 2018, Tanz im August at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the Donaufestival in Krems, and Radikal jung at Münchner Volkstheater.
PICTURE: Neven Allgeier