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Kris Verdonck (born 1974) is a Belgian theatre maker and visual artist based in Brussels, Belgium.

Biography
Kris Verdonck has an educational background in visual arts, architecture and theatre. Verdonck creates installations and performance pieces that feature human performers, machines and objects. The first STILLS, consisting of gigantic projections of naked, voluminous human figures, imprisoned in a space which is much too small for them, were commissioned by La Notte Bianca 2006 in Rome. Verdonck ironically positions the vulnerable bodies of his performers (and audiences) as sites of resistance against technology. In 2015, a new version of STILLS was produced for an art festival organised by the Onassis Cultural Centre. Due to complaints of an orthodox priest, the projections were stopped by the police. The video Presyncope, exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, is an immersion in the very moment of the fall of which we become the witness: an instant multiplied, in slow motion. Verdonck creates combinations of installations and performances like for example Variations presented at the Festival d'Avignon in 2008. K, a Society, a circuit of installations inspired by the work of Franz Kafka premieres at Theater der Welt. In 2011, Verdonck creates Exit in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Alix Eynaudi, in which the audience is invited to fall asleep during the performance. For his first solo exhibition, Verdonck made Exote: a metaphorical garden installation with a selection of invasive species of fauna and flora that form a potential danger for biodiversity, economy and human health. M, a reflection is a theatre piece based on texts by Heiner Müller. On stage the distinction between the actor Johan Leysen and his hologram is hardly noticeable. H, an incident is a musical theatre production based on the life and work of Daniil Harms.

UNTITLED (2014), a solo for the Spanish dancer and performer Marc Iglesias, explores the phenomenon of the liberated figure, the performer who is thrown into theatre in a limited way as if by a mechanical construction. ISOS, a 3D video-installation based on the world and characters from the apocalyptic science-fiction novels of J.G. Ballard, is presented at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016.IN VOID, a retrospective combining old and new works about human absence, premieres in 2016. "In IN VOID, any hope of harmony between humans and machines is dashed: the more present the objects are, the more transparent the human beings become. The greater their freedom of movement, the more immobile you become."

A symposium on the artistic practice of Kris Verdonck is organised by the City University of New York: "This symposium invites contributions reflecting on the various aesthetic, dramaturgical, political and philosophical aspects relating to Verdonck’s oeuvre."

Kris Verdonck was nominated for the Flemish Culture Prize for performing arts.

In 2017, Verdonck performs an adaptation of I/II/III/IIII with dancers pertaining to the International Choreographic Arts Centre (ICK) in Amsterdam, 10 years after its original creation. Over the years, Verdonck worked together with a.o. Johan Leysen, Anouk De Clercq, Jean-Paul Van Bendegem, Jonathan Burrows, Jónas Sen, Thomas Hauert, Dimitri Verhulst, Machinefabriek, Marc Iglesias, Alix Eynaudi, Tawny Andersen, a.o. His works were shown at Festival d'Avignon, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaaitheater, Notte Bianca, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, LOW Festival, World Expo Shanghai, La Villette, EMPAC, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Azkuna Zentroa, a.o.

A Two Dogs Company
In 2010 Stilllab company, run by Kris Verdonck, receives an operational subsidy from the Flemish Government and choses a new name: A Two Dogs Company. This name is inspired by Friedrich Torberg’s poem, ‘Spleen’. For his work, Verdonck brings in scientist, performers, actors, engineers and technicians. Marianne Van Kerkhoven, one of the leading voices in the Flemish theatre as a dramaturge and writer accompanied the work of Kris Verdonck since the very beginning. A Two Dogs Company is artist in residence in the Kaaitheater in Brussels. The company is structurally supported by the Flemish authorities and the Flemish Community Commission.

List of Performances & Installations

 * 2003: 5 (Dancer #1)
 * 2004: Heart, Catching Whales'''
 * 2005: Rain, Patent Human Energy, II
 * 2006: Duet, Variatie I, Variatie II, Variatie III, Still I, Still II
 * 2007: I/II/III/IIII
 * 2008: Still III, END, Variation IV
 * 2009: Dump, Dancer #2
 * 2010: Actor #1, K, a Society (Huminid, Beetle)
 * 2011: Exhibition # 1,Talk, Exote, Exit, Box
 * 2012: In, Mass, Presyncope, Gossip, M, a Reflection
 * 2013: H, an Incident, Frieze
 * 2014: Monster, Untitled
 * 2015: Isos, Still IV - VII
 * 2016: In Void (Bogus II, Brass), Bosch Beach, Exote II, Bogus I