Hi Mary is a choreographic practice that centers on waiting and anticipation as fundamental components for organizing a performative event. It serves as an exercise in hospitality and hope. As a site-specific project, Hi Mary delves into the reproductive modalities of labor, positioning cleaning, cooking, and decorating as elements of choreographic labor that facilitate the holding of space. Time is mediated through the anticipation and preparation for the future, where the audience's participation becomes an integral part of the preordained choreographic plan.
As a heterogeneous practice, Hi Mary weaves together solo and group dancing, sports, baking, eating, meditation, hypnosis, writing, fasting, intimate rituals, and a fusion of pop-cultural debris with Christian symbolism. Each iteration of Hi Mary is a singular, unique event, where the repetition and recomposition of devotional acts form the basis of the gathering—an assembly convened under the pretext of waiting for Mary.
The practice has been evolving since 2013 and has traveled to venues across various cities, including Judson Church (New York), Ada Studios, Dock 11, Ballhaus Ost, and Uferstudios (Berlin), Teatr Studio (Warsaw), the Museum of Modern Art (Łódź), Dansehallerne (Copenhagen), Norberg Festival (Norberg), and Het Veem (Amsterdam).
Links:
Hi Mary at Judson Church:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrSiHqVmE9Y
Hi Mary. Oh Sweet Lord / Dancehallerne, Work at Work Festival
worksatwork.dk/is-this-my-project/
Hi Mary. The lady who sees angels. Documentary Monster/ Dock 11, Un/polished Festival
vimeo.com/178294831
As a heterogeneous practice, Hi Mary weaves together solo and group dancing, sports, baking, eating, meditation, hypnosis, writing, fasting, intimate rituals, and a fusion of pop-cultural debris with Christian symbolism. Each iteration of Hi Mary is a singular, unique event, where the repetition and recomposition of devotional acts form the basis of the gathering—an assembly convened under the pretext of waiting for Mary.
The practice has been evolving since 2013 and has traveled to venues across various cities, including Judson Church (New York), Ada Studios, Dock 11, Ballhaus Ost, and Uferstudios (Berlin), Teatr Studio (Warsaw), the Museum of Modern Art (Łódź), Dansehallerne (Copenhagen), Norberg Festival (Norberg), and Het Veem (Amsterdam).
Links:
Hi Mary at Judson Church:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrSiHqVmE9Y
Hi Mary. Oh Sweet Lord / Dancehallerne, Work at Work Festival
worksatwork.dk/is-this-my-project/
Hi Mary. The lady who sees angels. Documentary Monster/ Dock 11, Un/polished Festival
vimeo.com/178294831
Selected letters were published in "Back to the future" edited by Mateusz Szymanowka and Katarzyna Koslacz (Kalisz, 2016)