When the polyptych is presented in its entirety, it is spring that first proclaims itself with Fluid Mechanics, in which nature and the human body alike find themselves in a state of effervescence. This is followed by Tan, smouldering summer, and Moss&Mold, autumn’s decay, and ultimately ICE culminates the seasonal trajectory with winter’s deadly bite and agony.

For this large-scale production, Thierry Smits intentionally plunges into the world of multimedia performance-installations, intensifying his use of screens, projections, lighting, sound and props on stage, as diverse as they are unexpected, but which all punctuate a certain idea of the seasons in all their metaphorical potential with human life that is born, flourishes, withers and dies.

Moss&Mould is imbued with a keen awareness of decay and organic disintegration, its rhythm  reminiscent of a macabre ritual observed from afar. A text by Caroline Lamarche, suggesting hunting scenes and a profound sense of dereliction, accompanies the ceremony while still-life images, evocative of autumn, scroll across the screen.