Tag: Rabih Mroue

Rabih Mroué (Lebanon)
Looking for a Missing Employee (US Premiere) &
The Pixelated Revolution (World Premiere)

“Mr. Mroué belongs to a tight-knit generation of artists, writers and filmmakers that has put Beirut back on the cultural map since the end of the civil war in 1990…they are to Beirut what the Wooster Group is to New York: a blend of avant-garde innovation, conceptual complexity and political urgency, all grounded in earthy humor.”
– The New York Times

Actor, writer, and director Rabih Mroué’s intricate narratives unwind with projection and live video feed as he explores questions of presence, absence, and documentation in the context of personal and societal responsibilities.

Mroué traces a troubling case of a missing employee through newspaper clippings, radiating outward from the very personal story to its wider political and economic implications. Based on true events.

Winner of the 2010 Spalding Gray Award, The Pixelated Revolution is a lecture performance aimed at unpacking the advice and directions regarding the taking of photographs on mobile phones during the events of the Syrian revolution, as shared via Facebook and other means of virtual communication.

From the artist, Rabih Mroué: “My works deal with issues that have been swept under the table in the current political climate of Lebanon. From theater practice to politics, and from the problem of representation to my private life, my search for ‘truth versus fiction’ begins via documents, photos and found objects, often fabricating documents and other ‘truths.’ The work becomes a dissection table for the dubious processes of Lebanon’s war society.”

Commissioned by the 2010 Spalding Gray Award (Performance Space 122 in New York, The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, On the Boards in Seattle, The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis).

Presented by Baryshnikov Arts Center as part of BAC Presents Series and Performance Space 122 as part of the 7th Annual COIL Festival
Baryshnikov Arts Center’s
Howard Gilman Performance Space
450 West 37th St., Manhattan, NY

Looking for a Missing Employee
Jan 6, 7 at 7:30pm
Jan 8 at 5pm
1 hr 40 min

The Pixelated Revolution
Jan 9 at 7:30pm
60 minutes

A surprise reading for New York by Jim Fletcher (Saturday) and Okwui Okpokwasili (Sunday), followed by a selection of Mroué’s video works.

“Mr. Mroué belongs to a tight-knit generation of artists, writers and filmmakers that has put Beirut back on the cultural map since the end of the civil war in 1990…With a string of formally inventive, astringent performance pieces to their credit, they are to Beirut what the Wooster Group is to New York: a blend of avant-garde innovation, conceptual complexity and political urgency, all grounded in earthy humor.” – Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, The New York Times

Rabih Mroué is an actor, director, and playwright. Continuously searching for new and contemporary relations among all the different elements and languages of the theatre art forms, Mroue questions the definitions of theatre and the relationship between space and form of the performance and, consequently, questions how the performer relates with the audience. His works deal with issues that have been swept under the table in the current political climate of Lebanon and he draws much-needed attention to the broader political and economic contexts by means of a semi-documentary theatre.

Co-organized by Defne Ayas of Performa, as part of Performa09, third visual art performance biennial.

Performa 09 (November 1 – 22, 2009) is the third edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, a non-profit multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century.
www.performa-arts.org

Nov 7, 8 2009

Help PS122 Go Green by viewing your Rabih Mroué program online!