“A silent rebellion that takes its time”: in her three-hour durational performance MIKE, Dana Michel, winner of the Silver Lion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, carefully approaches the subject of labour, on the lookout for possible “public lives that reflect our interior lives” (Michel). Drawing from experiences of her own business education and office jobs, she creates situations that don’t simply illustrate our gridlocked systems but follow their own internal logic, freeing objects from their designated functions and making space for unprejudiced encounter. Michel’s sensitivity, humour, and the transformative movement language with which she explores the white cube of mumok, enable a different, “horizontal” way of seeing.
Concept and performance: Dana Michel
Artistic activators: Viva Delorme, Ellen Furey, Peter James, Heidi Louis, Tracy Maurice, Roscoe Michel, Karlyn Percil and Yoan Sorin
Scenographic consultant and technical direction: Romain Guillet
Sound consultant: David Drury
Distribution: neon lobster – Giulia Messia and Katharina Wallisch
Production: SCORP CORPS – Viva Delorme and Dana Michel
Co-production: ARSENIC – Centre d’art scénique contemporain, Lausanne (CH), Centre national des Arts, Ottawa (CA), Festival TransAmériques, Montréal (CA), Julidans Amsterdam (NL), Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE), MDT, Stockholm (SE), Montpellier Danse (FR), Moving in November, Helsinki (FI), and Wexner Center for the Arts / The Ohio State
University, Columbus (US)
Residencies: Alkantara, Lisbon (PT), ANTI Festival, Kuopio (FI), Centre national des Arts, Ottawa (CA), Kinosaki International Arts Center (JP), Kyoto Experiment (JP), Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE), Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt (DE), Montpellier Danse creation residency at Agora: Cité internationale de la danse (FR), with support from BNP Paribas Foundation, RIMI/IMIR SceneKunst, Stavanger (NO), and Shedhalle, Zürich (CH)
With the kind support of Tanzhaus Zürich (CH), the Embassy of Canada to Switzerland and The Chocolate Factory, New York City (US)
The creation of this work is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts (CA), the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec (CA), the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie (CA) and the Conseil des Arts de Montréal (CA).
The premiere of MIKE was presented on May 19, 2023 at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE).
Supported by the representation of the Québec government.
