Putting It Out There
Mariano Pensotti’s “El Pasado es un Animal Grotesco” follows the lives of young people who see their economy crumble around them.
Image credit: Courtesy Walker Art Center
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World Wide WalkerFrom Buenos Aires to Beirut and Tokyo to New York, the Walker Art Center’s 24th annual Out There Performance Series is going global.
This year’s series features four distinctive artists from four different continents. While past years have focused on specific regions, the Walker has used globalization through mass media as a cue for the series’ new approach.
“Because of the digital age, there are shared reference points through global political and economic developments,” says Philip Bither, the Walker’s Senior Curator of Performing Arts. “Our universality today was worth focusing on.”
This year’s series, which begins on Thursday, features artists Young Jean Lee from New York, Beirut’s Rabih Mroué, Japan’s Toshiki Okada and Argentina’s Mariano Pensotti. Each artist has a remarkably different show, featuring different mediums, but all have underlying global messages.
“There is a local quality about all of their work, but it also resonates with international audiences,” says Bither. “We’re all questioning authority and what the economics of the global world is doing to our lives. It’s a remarkable moment we’re going through.”
But despite shared messages, the Out There series will still be anything but traditional. “Just expect the unexpected,” Bither says. “I encourage people to consider it an adventure.”
The lineup:
Young Jean Lee and The United Feminist Show, Thursday, Jan. 5 – Saturday, Jan. 7
Provocative, charismatic and completely nude, the commissioned United Feminist show pushes the boundaries of gender identity and will impel the audience to reexamine human conventions. “Jean Lee questions the notions of gender, gender fluidity, and how we look at each other as humans. It’s a show anyone will find interesting,” says Bither. For Young Jean Lee’s third time at the Walker, she will take viewers on an experimental adventure through song and dance.
Rabih Mroué, “Looking for a Missing Employee and The Pixelated Revolution,” Thursday, Jan. 12 – Saturday, Jan. 14
Lebanon’s Rabih Mroué is what some call a creative rebel. His avant-garde performances are an eccentric media mish-mash of video, storytelling and sketch art, which he forms into a captivating, political puzzle. “His work and life in general is so reflected of the Arab spring. He questions the power structures in his home country, so people are very curious about him,” says Bither. In his debut U.S. tour, Mroué will examine the political nature of the Middle East with humor, inventiveness and a bit of mystery.
Toshiki Okada and chelfitsch, Thursday, Jan. 19 – Saturday, Jan. 21
For the second time since 2009, Toshiki Okada and his company chelfitsch bring their esteemed Japanese theater to Out There. Backed by the music of John Coltrane and John Cage, the performance follows three inter-connected stories of Japanese office workers, that with dark, witty humor, questions global capitalism and their enigmatic culture. “Okada examines a disposable group of young people, so those under 35 will find this performance very interesting,” says Bither.
Mariano Pensotti, “El Pasado es un Animal Grotesco,” Thursday, Jan. 26 – Saturday, Jan. 28
Similar to its preceding performances, Mariano Pensotti’s piece follows the lives of young people who see their economy crumble around them, which forces them to reevaluate their dreams, relationships and plans for the future. “El Pasado es un Animal Grotesco” (The Past is a Grotesque Animal) is the Argentine director’s first US tour.
+ For show times and ticket information on the Out There Festival, visit walkerart.org.
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