A birthday cake is more than a sugary treat adorned with candles: it is a marker of the passage of time, laden with cultural expectations. To celebrate this 30th edition, Kunstenfestivaldesarts invites Rébecca Chaillon for a surprise performance that takes over the Festival Centre for one evening only.

Through an approach that is raw and unsettling, Chaillon reimagines the act of baking a birthday cake and transforms this seemingly innocuous symbol. Eschewing metaphor, her body becomes the vessel in which the cake is created. She delivers a visceral performance that draws on the feminist tradition of performance art, using her body as subject and medium. Her actions transform into a living sculpture, balancing desecration with playful engagement. Ingredient by ingredient, the cake-making process becomes a conduit to explore not only joy but also the darker facets of society: harsh realities of consumption, social pressures inscribed on bodies, and eating disorders.

Chaillon skillfully weaves gestures and words in this one-night-only performance. The Cake arrives as a celebration of the festival’s milestone and a satirical reflection on the need and nature of celebration itself.