Rehearsal for the revolution
To celebrate Mabon (the autumnal equinox) Many Bats ran a two-day programme of workshops with the students
of Design Academy Eindhoven. This was in preparation for a carnival parade through the school, aiming to disrupt
‘business as usual’ and question the codes of a learning environment.
In the morning, Laura Viltoft Overgaard led participants in an exploration of embodying characters through walking.
Rients Willy taught mime, and acting with masks. Then, drawing out our inner creatures in a painting workshop with
Noam Hasak Lowy and Adele Visser, followed by a masterclass in papier-mache with Cato Devilee and Monis Pinto
Sanz, finishing with a devil maskmaking workshop with Tin Alaya.
Tin gave a short lecture on the the use of devil masks in the carnival of their grandmothers village in Ecuador.
The devils tease and mock as they go, looking to scare the audience with their hand-painted, boldly colored masks.
The devils in the annual parade are a way for indigenous Ecuadorians to assert themselves and their right to be there as
wealthy European colonizers arrived in the region in the 16th century. Tin led us in drawing out our inner mischief and
using the masks to scare and frighten.
We finished the equinox celebration with a colourful loud parade through the school which drew a lot of engagement,
and business was successfully disrupted.