Wasteland: the innocence beneath the darkness

by Alex Haw, Director

On Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting Wasteland Summerfest in Amsterdam as the guest of my wonderful friends, the Budapest-based performance collective Pop My Ego.

I expected extraordinary costumes, spectacular performances and beautifully crafted post-apocalyptic worlds. I wasn't expecting to encounter such warmth.

Beneath all the black leather, chains, latex and theatrical darkness was one of the friendliest, most tolerant, creative, and surprisingly innocent communities I've discovered for a while.

I keep noticing how complementary the weekend felt to our recent RITUAL gathering the week before - where everyone wore white and explored conscious touch, chanting and connection.

On the surface they couldn't look more different. Yet both were people honestly exploring what it means to be human. One through light; one through shadow.

I loved watching, filming and almost participating in all the Wasteland performances exploring power exchange, domination, and submission, though the skin-hook suspension seriously challenged me. They all left me with enormous admiration for the courage, commitment, authenticity and vulnerability of their protagonists.

The older I get, the less interested I become in judging the many different ways we humans seek healing, expression and transformation - and the more I see white robes and black latex as the same; different paths into the same mystery, offered with their own forms of reverence and love.

You can check out some of my videos and photos here.