BabaFish

A young man named Jo Ackermans once visited a place in the north of India called Rishikesh. At first he really hated the place, in his eyes it was full of western people searching for illumination… Well, after a while the place and the yoga practice grew on him, and one day while crossing a bridge he had his fortune read by a very stoned Yogi. The yogi said amongst other things that Jo would create a company called BabaFish…

In 2009 BabaFish was created by the video artists Jo Ackermans and the circus artists Anke Bucher, Michela Henle and Anna Nilsson to produce the performance “I, Mistress & Wife”, collective creation which was a laureate of Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe 2009-2010 and had its premiere in Strasbourg. Jo Ackermans has since left BabaFish to focus on his video and documentary art, creating the company Locomotif. BabaFish subsequently created “Hymen National” and “Bazilik”.

BabaFish is also a platform for the development of the individual works of its members. In 2012, Anna Nilsson initiated a production called “Expiry Date”. This show saw the daylight in July 2014 during the festival Zomer Van Antwerpen. In 2014, Anke Bucher initiated the project “Crève Corps” and Anna Nilsson initiated the project “Driften”.