Shop Girl is a poetic epic, grafting the tradition of Virgil onto the late capitalist era.
The collection germinated in the basement of Primark, where Dominique De Groen worked for a winter and a spring.
The poems explore the cracks in the production process of fast fashion, where talking colours and the spirits of textile workers reside.
The supply chain becomes a global object, extending from a grain of sand or a silkworm in Bangladesh to the porous, leaking body of the Shop Girl:
‘the supply chain manager knows / that you can’t spell customers / without customs / nor without $$$’.
In Dutch.
Poetry collection (het balanseer, 2017)
Radioactive plants bloom.
Two islands bleed into one another.
An iceberg vomits out its guts.
The permafrost thaws.
Dormant bacteria awaken.
Degenerate life forms proliferate in a landscape of primordial slime and plastic.
The witches lay out the tarot cards.
A new tree of life begins to bud.
A sticky drama is brewing.
Five frames to go.
The ghosts of ancient animals are dazzling in the nuclear night.
In Dutch.
Poetry collection (het balanseer, 2019)
‘No one wishes bad things on the sacrificial sheep
in itself
but everyone wants to see it shiver
stripped of its perfect fleece
see how its perfect belly is torn to shreds
quartered by market forces
endless lengths of entrails pulled out
on its glittering navel ring.’
In Dutch.
Poetry collection (het balanseer, 2020)
With drawings by Jacky De Groen
Snakes swarm in the sarcophagus of the present, in the caverns of pop culture, in mummified nature.
They crawl in wounds and rotten flesh, in artificial deserts and on oiled dad bods.
They coil around stock charts, become entangled with strangulating algorithms, orchestrate a slow underground revolution.
A girl cuts herself on a fake diamond pyramid and sheds her snakeskin.
‘prettiest face that money could buy me, beat it into a smile
at night I am besieged by motorcyclists
their leather suits covered with diamonds and gemstones
many-coloured snakes, shimmering in the light of a merciless sun
melting the asphalt of the freeway
they hiss that we are made for work and boredom alone
crushed beneath the algorithmic boots of power’.
In Dutch.
Poetry collection (het balanseer, 2022)
Bella Goth, a B-horror movie actress who bears an uncanny resemblance to Britney Spears, goes up in smoke
after a day on set. Paranormal detective Malayney Milksour follows her track across continents and through centuries:
a hallucinating quest through pop culture, cyberspace horror and digital ruins, tracing the entangled histories of capitalism
up to its algorithmic present. Corpus Britney is a genre-bending novel filled with döppelgängers, ghosts,
visions, side quests and stories-within-stories, wildly associative and laced with dark humour.
In Dutch.
Cover illustration by Michael Valdez
Novel (het balanseer, 2026)
In this collaborative project, I wrote the text and script for the musical performance Counterforces, composed by Frederik Croene and with singers IKRAAAN, Amina Osmanu, and Lore Binon.
Synopsis: We seem to have ended up in a dark timeline, characterised by inequality, polarisation, and ecological apocalypse. Are despair, denial, apathy, or techno-utopianism the only roads still open to us, or is there another option? Three young women embody an alternative path, defying fate itself in a frank and uninhibited way. Their resistance is playful and festive, yet at the same time fierce and powerful. It sits in a tradition of feminine magical rebellion that has long undermined traditional power structures and that has provoked patriarchs of the past to burn people at the stake. The incantations, sorcery, and other fantastic tactics of female archetypes are incarnated by three singers on stage in Counterforces. At the same time, they undermine patriarchal clichés that discredit feminine anger or rebellion as irrational or even hysterical. In the text, three girls forge an alliance to fight patriarchate and capital, by appealing to ancient feminine deities for help, by invoking the spirits of ancient plants and charcoal, and by manifesting spells and fictions into the world. The singers are given the freedom to vocally tackle and counter Frederik Croene’s mechanical/romantical piano playing in any way they choose. An exercise in anti-hysteria and radical witchcraft.
Concept/composition: Frederik Croene
Scenario/text: Dominique De Groen
Singers: Lore Binon, Amina Osmanu, IKRAAAN
Piano: Frederik Croene
18/02/2023 Concertgebouw Brugge (première)
24/03/2023 Klarafestival & Passa Porta Festival (Beursschouwburg Brussel)
21/10/2023 Transit Festival (STUK Leuven)
24/02/2024 Night Air (Arts centre BUDA, Kortrijk)
The libretto for Counterforces (in Dutch, English and French) was published in 2023 by het balanseer.
Photo: © Patrick Van Vlerken
Poetic performance for the exhibition Swedish Ecstasy at BOZAR Brussels.
Synopsis: We know that Hilma af Klint was fascinated by the occult and the esoteric. In light of the Swedish Ecstasy exhibition, Dominique De Groen has taken inspiration from this iconic Swedish artist. Surrounded by the paintings of the exhibition, she will be delivering a poetry performance in tribute to the spiritual universe of Hilma af Klint. She will take the audience on a ritual journey, consisting of incantations and guided collective meditation. Within the circle there is space for the invisible, the occult: an evocation of female spiritual entities and the restless spirits of animals and plants.
The performance took place several times over the course of the spring of 2023. The text of the performance (in Dutch, English, and French) was published in 2023 by het balanseer.
In May and June 2023 I did a series of workshops with pupils of OKAN HTISA (reception class for children who speak a foreign language). Together we made the poem ‘De week van OKAN Roze’ (‘The week of OKAN Pink’), which in 2024 became part of the Poetry Route of the City of Ghent (location: Artevelde College, Kattenberg Campus).
I wrote the poem ‘Zeldzame aarde’ (‘Rare earth’) as part of the Art and Science Route of Leuven University, on the occasion of its 600 year jubilee. The poem considers the question: where does our knowledge come from and to whom does it belong? It is permanently on display in the Krakenstraat, on a LED news ticker.
Libretto for the opera Eat Me.
A banquet where appetite and power gorge on each other until only hunger remains. Four figures orbit the table: Casper, the critic addicted to his own critique; Romain, a chef sculpting perfection he’ll never serve; Linde, a seer watching the world collapse in slow motion; Raphaële, a diva of mirrors, speaking in borrowed echoes, opera roles and pop refrains. Some guests take a seat, others drift close, caught in the gravitational pull of the feast. The meal never begins. Ritual frays, beauty ferments, pleasure turns unstable. Silverware trembles, words congeal, voices spill. Eat Me unfolds as a study in appetite, of bodies and sounds circling between seduction and excess, ceremony and decay. Oester unites poet Dominique De Groen, composer Jonathan Bonny, B’Rock Ensemble, and performers Raphaële Green, Romain Dayez, Linde Carrijn, and Casper Clausen. In a scenography co-created with :mentalKLINIK, early music fractures into soundscapes of the now. As in every oester creation, the borders between concert, performance, and visual art dissolve. Sound turns to architecture; the stage becomes a volatile terrain where the sensorial and the critical meet. Oester works in the friction between disciplines, opening dissonant, alternative ways of listening together.
Concept & direction: Aïda Gabriëls
Dramaturgy: Tessa Vannieuwenhuyze & Lena Meyskens
Compositions & musical arrangements: Jonathan Bonny
Libretto: Dominique De Groen
Performers: Raphaële Green, Romain Dayez, Linde Carrijn, Casper Clausen, Timo Tembuyser
Ensemble: B’Rock Orchestra
Scenography: :mentalKLINIK
Production: oester
30/04/2026 Concertgebouw Brugge (première)
© :mentalKLINIK, /IMAGINE, 2410, 2024
Bacterial Girl is the first part of what would later become Sticky Drama, accompanied by drawings of half-imaginary plants.
After an unspecified ecological disaster, something shifts in the centre of things.
Humans are no longer central, if they ever even were. Everywhere new, degenerate lifeforms proliferate.
The boundaries between living, dead, undead, real and fictional entities become blurry.
Porous, squishy bodies open themselves up for infection by imaginary species.
The ghosts of the dead animals are dazzling in the nuclear night.
In Dutch.
Zine with poems & drawings (Marktcorruptie, 2018)
A book about magic & witchcraft as forms of resistance against capitalism & patriarchy (with work by Nadia de Vries, Jules Verhulst & Dominique De Groen).
In Dutch.
Zine with text & drawings (Marktcorruptie, 2018)
Zine with two essays about hauntology: ‘Politics of the jump scare: on hauntology, ghosts, horror, & capitalism’ (Dominique De Groen) and ‘Nightrise of the (political) imagination’ (Arno Van Vlierberghe).
In English.
Zine with essays & images (Marktcorruptie, 2019)
My Crown Is Back: In Search of the Poetry of Britney Spears is a zine about the poetry, blog posts, pink wigs, & rebellion of Britney Spears.
In English.
Zine with text & images (Marktcorruptie, 2019)
A Choose Your Own Adventure Lindsay Lohan fanfic.
After an introduction tracing Lindsay’s life story up to 2007, the fanfic picks up from the drunken car chase in which the iconic starlet got involved in the summer of that year.
Does Lindsay’s destiny involve a revolution of subterranean plants, a prophetic coyote, a gruesome encounter in a morgue, or true love’s kiss? It’s up to you!
In English.
Zine with text & images (Marktcorruptie, 2022)
This publication, made in collaboration with & published by copyshop—, offers a glimpse into my folder of emotional support screenshots.
This folder contains many different kinds of
images, all soothing in their own way: memes, screenshots of posts on forums,
subreddits, or Tumblr, personal messages and
e-mails, fragments of articles or books, and random pictures circulating online whose origins are impossible to trace.
I find myself browsing through this folder
when I feel anxious, lonely or down.
For this publication, I’ve made a selection
from the folder, and added some (often conflicting) thoughts and reflections, articulated through
various personas and alter egos, as in a comment thread:
about mental health in capitalism, and the
online spaces which host the often toxic self-care
discourses reinforcing a neoliberal, individualistic
status quo — but which also, on occasion, seem
to hold the promise of alternative forms of community, shimmering on the horizon…
In English.
Zine with text & images (copyshop—, 2024)
Poems
☾ ‘Checkout Zone’, ‘Supply Chain Management’, ‘Ice’ & ‘Deep Time’, translated by Jonathan William Beaton, Poetry International Web
☾ ‘Dreaming of the Sacrificial Lamb / Dream #1’, translated by Paul Vincent, The Low Countries
☾ ‘Sacrifical Lamb #7 & #8’, own translation, Hotel Magazine
☾ ‘Ghosts in the Shell’, translated by Paul Vincent, Versopolis
☾ ‘Waiting 4 Spring’, translated by Michele Hutchison, The High Window
☾ ‘Strawberry moon’, translated by Michele Hutchison, Words Without Borders
Prose
☾ ‘Touch of my hand’, translated by Laura Watkinson, Extra Extra Magazine 14
Essays
☾ ‘Poor images and cyberpunk tricksters: some thoughts on a fan-made music video’, own translation, COLLATERAL: Collision 74
☾ ‘‘My Crown Is Back’: In Search of the Poetry of Britney Spears’, own translation, There’s a star in my future, edited by Mélodie Sylvestre & Zélie Péguillan
☾ ‘Basses terres’, ‘Vendange’, ‘Ère profonde’, ‘Glace’ & ‘Hymne’, translated by Daniel Cunin, Traversées 90
☾ ‘Supply Chain Management’, translated by Hans Hoebeke, Septentrion 2019/2
☾ ‘Hymne’, translated by Stefan Wieczorek, Trimaran 2020/2
☾ Several poems in English (translated by Jonathan William Beaton), French (translated by Daniel Cunin) and German (translated by Stefan Wieczorek), Lyrikline
☾ ‘Supply Chain Management’ & ‘Ghost in the Shell’, translated by Micaela Van Muylem, Escaramuza
☾ Eight poems from Shop Girl & Sticky Drama, translated by Nadia Poulou, Τεφλόν (Teflon) 22
☾ ‘I am antitext’ & ‘De Drie’, Gierik & NVT 126
☾ ‘me++ (UK)’, Deus Ex Machina 154
☾ ‘1333/2008/EG’, ‘Only Way Is Essex’ & ‘You Feel Like Shit: An Interactive Self-Care
Guide’, Samplekanon
☾ ‘0.0’, ‘130.04’ & ‘Banana Baby’, Gierik & NVT 129
☾ ‘Money shot. Fix’, Hard//hoofd
☾ ‘Betaalzone’, Kluger Hans 31
☾ ‘me++’ & ‘Afferent/Efferent’, Gierik & NVT 134
☾ ‘Bodies’, nY 35
☾ ‘ভূত’, De Internet Gids
☾ ‘Ghost in the Shell’, De Nederlandse Boekengids 2017/6
☾ ‘Rites for an abortive Spring’, De Optimist
☾ ‘5 Reasons I Truly Love Google’s New Christmas Ad With Macaulay Culkin (The Last One Will Surprise You!)’, De Internet Gids
☾ ‘Droom #1’, ‘Droom #2’, ‘Droom #3’ & ‘Droom #4’, Het Liegend Konijn 2019/1
☾ ‘Groetjes uit Hollywood’, Notulen van het Onzichtbare
☾ ‘Dematerialisatie van de chipfabriek’, Notulen van het Onzichtbare
☾ ‘Droom #8’, De Revisor 23
☾ ‘It’s all just a big zig-zag to nowhere’, Poëziekrant 2019/6
☾ ‘Ijs’ & ‘Hymne’, De 44 beste gedichten van de Herman de Coninckprijs 2020 (Behoud de Begeerte)
☾ ‘Zeven wonderbaarlijke meditaties voor volle maan’, Yes The Void
☾ ‘Elixir’, Poëziekrant 2021/4
☾ ‘De arroyo’s kurkdroog’, Passionate Magazine
☾ ‘Slangen 11, 12 & 13’, Het Liegend Konijn 2021/2
☾ ‘Het offerlam is een flexwerker’, De 44 Beste gedichten van de Herman de Coninckprijs 2021 (Behoud de Begeerte)
☾ ‘Offerlam #9’, Barricadepoëzie. Lyrisch activisme sinds 1848, Johan Sonnenschein & Kornee van der Haven (EPO)
☾ ‘Colour Management’, Gedichten van het nieuwe millennium. Twintig jaar 21e-eeuwse poëzie uit Nederland en Vlaanderen, edited by Jeroen Dera & Carl De Strycker (PoëzieCentrum)
☾ ‘Liquidatie’, De Gids 2022/2
☾ Poetry contribution to Screensaver Error (Posture Editions), artist book by Lisa Vlaemminck on the occasion of her exhibition Morph Allure at KIOSK
☾ ‘Waiting 4 spring’, Deus Ex Machina 185
☾ ‘Dievenknoop’, ‘Mood’ & ‘Slut era’, Het Liegend Konijn 2023/2
☾ ‘*gel-’, De Gids 2023/5
☾ ‘Aardbeimaan’, Apache Magazine winter 2023
☾ ‘Excerpt from Slangen’, De 44 beste gedichten van de Herman de Coninckprijs 2023 (Behoud de Begeerte)
☾ ‘Gebroken draden’, nY 53
☾ ‘Fata Morgana’, Deus Ex Machina 189
☾ ‘Spiritually Slutty’, Not So Difficult 7
☾ ‘Why is the internet not fun anymore :(’, De Revisor 44
☾ ‘LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor)’ (part 1 & part 2), nY 37
☾ ‘Hauntologie van de MacBook Air’, G. 3
☾ ‘Charing X’, nY 39 (contribution as guest writer)
☾ ‘Juicy’, nY 40 (contribution as guest writer)
☾ ‘Empty places’, nY 41 (contribution as guest writer)
☾ ‘The Fiery Hills’, nY-web (contribution as guest writer)
☾ ‘Gebeurtenissen in april 2020’, nY 43
☾ ‘Usnea Antarctica’, Project Antarctica
☾ ‘Jagersmaan’, Tirade 486
☾ ‘Utopie van het riool’, rektum:versum (het balanseer)
☾ ‘Serratia marcescens’, Etcetera 171
☾ ‘The Art of Draping’, Flemish Review de la Poëzie 15
☾ ‘Sad Girl’, rekto:verso 80
☾ ‘Hoopvolle Horror’, rekto:verso 82
☾ ‘‘Everyone’s watching as she starts to fall’: de hidden transcripts en duistere dubbelgangers van Britney Spears’, COLLATERAL: Collision 26
☾ ‘‘Nothing natural about you’: over de esthetische arbeid van Charlotte Crosby van Geordie Shore’, COLLATERAL: Collision 33
☾ ‘Buffy the Capitalist Slayer’, COLLATERAL: Collision 39
☾ ‘And if I’m being honest, it might have been a nightmare’, COLLATERAL: Collision 47
☾ ‘Im tempted to copy and paste this entire thread and save it in notepad so this thread will be alive forever’: Over de teloorgang van het internetforum’, COLLATERAL: Collision 53
☾ ‘You get caught up in what you’re pretending to be’: zwarte tranen, simulacra en ugly feelings in The Hills’, COLLATERAL: Collision 58
☾ ‘Gravity’s Rainbow: een pleidooi voor onnozelheid’, rekto:verso 89
☾ ‘‘I’m hoping Cuomo and Map Boy will kiss when Georgia flips’: erotische fanfic over CNN-nieuwsankers tijdens de Amerikaanse presidentsverkiezingen’, COLLATERAL: Collision 67
☾ ‘NEE tegen de commercialisering van het occulte’, rekto:verso 90
☾ ‘‘I can’t believe there’s something left in my chest anymore’: Geloven in het lichaam met Dua Lipa’, COLLATERAL: Collision 72
☾ ‘Santa Clarita Diet. Over zombificatie’, De Netflix Essays, edited by Florian Deroo & Daan Borloo (Academia Press)
☾ ‘Wondelgemse Meersen’, rekto:verso 94
☾ ‘Van Cool Girl naar Cringe Girl’, De Internet Gids
☾ ‘Maskerade. De gezichten van Madonna’, rekto:verso 99
☾ ‘AI Girl vs. Tub Girl: een dystopische fantasie’, E-girls (copyshop—)
☾ ‘Cute alien / Alien cute’, rekto:verso 107
☾ ‘Beste Bo’, rekto:verso
☾ ‘Beste vastgoedontwikkelaars, beste architecten’, rekto:verso
