Podcast/mp3
Mallbodies
A performative elegy to the American Shopping Mall
Mallbodies A Performative Elegy to the American Mall A Site-Specific Audioplay experienced at your nearest shopping mall Created by Mike Durkin, Dylan Gygax, and Logan Gabrielle Schulman Voice Performances by Courtney Cooke, Dylan Gygax, Vanessa Ogbuehi, and Steven Wright Streaming From 3/18/21-5/18/21 The time you waited in line for the Doorbuster Deals. The time your mom dropped you off to meet your friends to go see the newest Superhero movie. Now, let’s continue on our journey. Shopping malls hold a strong place in American culture as well as personal culture. Mallbodies, is a soundwalk performance dedicated to our experience and memory of the American shopping mall. This project is designed to be listened to by individual audience members exploring a shopping mall of their choosing. Mallbodies explores the origins of the shopping mall, our attraction to, our memories, and exploring how malls function today and in the future. Mallbodies is performed alone with audiences of one streaming the series of tracks on a playlist sent to audience members and can be played anytime. Mallbodies is a self-guided experience that lasts little over an hour, though you may decide to pause the audio at times and spend more time in certain locations. Proper footwear is recommended and carrying water would be helpful. Mallbodies is a self-guided immersive audioplay to be performed at an indoor mall nearest to the audience member. For the duration of the performance, the audience member uses extreme caution and takes proper COVID-19 precautions (the use of hand sanitizer stations, wearing of a mask, keeping appropriate distance). As an extra precaution, please reach out to your local public health administration and research local indoor retail business guidelines. At any point the audience member feels hesitant or unsafe they may leave the mall. During the guided journey, you may opt out at any time you feel uneasy.
Audience Role
Playing a soundwalk at a shopping mall. Guided by prompts, audiences will walk throughout a mall following precautions and safety instructions at their local mall.
Ages: 13 +
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Tags
2
Events
6
Years on EI
About Mike Durkin
Mike (He/Him) is a multidisciplinary social practice performance artist residing in New York City. Mike was born in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and has lived in Philadelphia for the last 10 years before moving back to NYC. Mike is guided by the intersection between art and everyday. With his performance group, The Renegade Company he has created site-responsive social practice productions exploring food access, place and gentrification. He currently works at the Two Bridges Women’s Shelter in Chinatown, NYC as a Recreation Specialist. He conducts artmaking activities, story-sharing sessions, mentorship, and performance activities for the women in the shelter. Most recently he developed a performance installation working with knitters, dancers, and musicians that assembled a live fiber art recreation of Henri Matisse’s Le Bonheur de vivre at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. He also created a community-based performance project focussed on substance abuse, addiction, and homelessness working with residents of the Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia called: (Kensington) Streetplay. He is currently in development to create a performance project focusing on the role sports plays in communities, entitled, S-P-O-R-T-S-P-L-A-Y. Mike has held residencies with the Space at Ryder Farm, Drop Forge and Tool, and San Luis Valley Social Practice Residency at Adams State University in Alamosa, CO. Mike’s work has been presented at the Brandywine River Museum, Barnes Foundation, Mt. Moriah Cemetery, the Life Do Grow Farm, and in parks, churches, fields, along the streets in Kensington, and online. For more information, check out, www.therenegadecompany.org. Mike is part of the 2017 MFA in Devised Performance class with Pig Iron Theatre Company/University of the Arts.