This work by 4RUDE premiered in July 2023 at Berlin's Theater im Delphi, where it ran for four performances, and is now revived.

What world is reflected in their eyes?

Empty Stare listens for the voice of the voiceless, inspired by Hans Bellmer’s puppet sculptures.
Here, the voiceless are not only human, but all beings—plants, animals, and material forms alike: stone, wood, dolls—often dismissed as inert. Yet when we encounter what seems lifeless or constrained, a gaze quietly emerges. Like a mirror, it returns something to us: a fragment of ourselves we have never name for.

In the stillness of the voiceless, we sense a voice we cannot speak, a part of ourselves long hidden beneath the masks of everyday life. Are these voiceless beings distant from us, or do they dwell within, uncomfortably close, reflecting a part of ourselves we have never named?

Through Butoh, the dancers lend their bodies to this silent presence. Movement becomes a listening act. A wordless resonance unfolds, spreading through the space, loosening fixed perceptions, and eroding the boundaries between self and other. Rather than guiding the audience toward meaning, the work opens a field of sensation, releasing each person back into a richer, truer reality.

The title Empty Stare comes from the faces of Bellmer’s puppets. Their eyes do not focus; they drift. Behind the pupils, a dark depth seems to open, quietly absorbing the viewer’s intention. The gaze appears vacant, yet something persists within it, withheld, unresolved.

Performance: Hikaru Inagawa, Rareș Grozea, Adina Mohr, Maco

Concept, direction, choreography, costume design: Maco
Co-choreography, light & sound design: Hikaru Inagawa

Production: 4RUDE