UPCOMING PERFORMANCE: Mikey McParlane

Embarrassingly, we have never seen Mikey McParlane perform, which is why we are so stoked to see his new piece at Rapid Pulse on Thursday, June 12. Seriously, look at his Tumblr. It is a dream stream of Bjork, GIFs of flowers opening, fashion editorials, gory Baroque paintings, artistically arranged bowels, Rocio Boliver and Prince. It is organized under such headers as “boy” and “diva” (Prince is featured under both of these).

Talking with Mikey McParlane and looking at documentation of past performances, we get a sense of his style. He creates hyper-opulent utopian landscapes and fills them with tragedy and high glamour. The worlds are richly sensorial, pulsing with sound, and controlled to the last detail. All is designed to create a fantasy space that makes visible and tactile the emotional response of the artist to history, mythology, and current politics. He seems particularly intrigued by the possibility of transformation and catharsis through performance. “Everything is always becoming,” he says.

For Rapid Pulse this year, McParlane is staging the demise of a centuries old child caught up in Leo X’s gold painted ego parade. We cannot wait.

“Foolish Heart of the Golden Boy” will take place in the Defibrillator Gallery at 7 PM on Thursday June 12. McParlane brings in additional performers Caleb Yono and Jimmy Schaus.
mikeymcparlane.tumblr.com

Photos by Michael Mallis.
Mothergirl (Katy Albert and Sophia Hamilton) is a Chicago based performance duo whose work has taken the form of installation, durational event, and guided audience interaction. Mothergirl’s characters, and the worlds they inhabit, exhibit a strategically refracted or misrepresented view of current political and philosophical discourse, creating a space where viewers are challenged to think critically about their own relationships with feminism, consumerism, and representational visuality. They have performed at Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival (2013), MCA Chicago, Rough Trade II Artist Exchange, Out of Site, and Roxaboxen. They were 2012 ACRE Residents and 2013 Chicago Artists Coalition HATCH Residents.