3hd 2026: Beyond Imaging: Creamcake

From dancehall and puppetry to shock rock and a drug-fuelled soap opera – the two-day event brings together artists whose work challenges the conventions and contradictions of the public imagination.

Charlie Osborne’s “He Must Have Been Like 6ft 3”, a shock-rock essay concert in which an imposing figure in Superman pyjamas reinterprets the notion of romance.

Eunju Hong expands and adapts her existing performance “She Seemed Devastated, When I Was Weeping With Joy” for HAU2, drawing on traditional East Asian puppetry and modelling a life-size, 3D-printed replica of her own face and body.

Harald Beharie’s “Batty Juice” – a new duet version of the 2022 solo piece “Batty Bwoy”, which was first presented by Creamcake – explores entrenched narratives surrounding the theme of deviance in an odyssey of thumping prog-rock.

Through her drag king persona “COLOMBIANIZACIÓN”, Nadia Granados examines the ways in which violence is aestheticised, consumed and conveyed in Colombian “narco soap operas”, music videos and gangster rap.

‘Jelly-Cake’ artist Lila Steinkampf serves up particularly tasty treats, whilst music producer Sin Maldita spins records between performances throughout the evening.

The evening brings together four performances from four different perspectives: each invites the audience to recognise and overcome the prejudices and preconceptions that not only shape but also distort our perception of reality.