Helena Araújo
“and it gets better”
August 8, 2026
20.30 H
HochX Theater und Live Art
25 EUR / 18 EUR ermäßigt
Barrier-free
“and it gets better” is a solo performance by Helena Araújo that sheds light on the dark side of the art world with wit, self-irony, and performative exaggeration. The audience finds itself on an artificially created DIY beach – a place that lies somewhere between a vacation setting and an emotional state of emergency. In this unusual setting, Araújo turns her attention to the often invisible stresses of independent artistic practice: precarious working conditions, constant mobility, pressure to perform, and the perpetual confrontation with evaluation and criticism.
Amid lounge chairs, warning signs, and imaginary dangers, she recounts personal experiences, fears, and the demands of a workday that allows for hardly any breaks. Even an unanswered email can become a threat. Over the course of the performance, the beach transforms again and again – at times it appears rugged and stormy, at others light and shimmering. The moods also shift between vulnerability, humor, and resistance.
With great candor, Araújo questions the widespread notion that an artist’s value is measured by her constant productivity. Her attempt to simply do nothing for once becomes a challenge. She fails, starts over, and brings to light the contradictions of a professional life marked by uncertainty. “and it gets better” combines personal narratives with social critique, creating a space that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, where questions of work, exhaustion, and self-assertion are explored. A raw, salty evening about burnout, resistance, and failure – with a healthy dose of irony and female energy!
Helena Araújo is an artist and performer from Rio de Janeiro living in Vienna. As a lover of surprising twists, kitsch, and bad jokes, she creates spaces where artistic forms of expression intertwine and challenge conventional expectations. She moves fluidly between contemporary art spaces and the feverish energy of cabaret evenings. Her work has been presented at venues including Studio Brut (AT), the Radiant Nights Festival (BE), the CPA Festival (AT), and the Moving Futures Festival (NL).
Credits:
Concept, dramaturgy, choreography and performance: Helena Araújo
Dramaturgy: Ana Rocha
Assistant, set, costume and lighting design: Evandro Pedroni
Sound design: Lulu Muñoz
Special participation: Nerea Gonzalez
A co-production by Bears in the Park, brut Wien and WUK Performing Arts
With the support from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Civil Service and
Sport for the START scholarship and touring grant
Special Thanks to Claire Lefevre, Luisa Pisetta Ravanelli, Luis Javier Murillo Zuniga,
Andrea Vezga, Daniela Hernandez Flores, Sven Chwalibog, Pedra Costa
Photos: Hanna Fasching
Trailer: Rafael Frazão
Supported by the Bundesministerium Wohnen, Kunst, Kultur, Medien und Sport, brut Wien und HUGGY BEARS.