MCA Chicago presents Every house has a door

Let us think of these things always. Let us speak of them never.
February 9-13, 2011

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 East Chicago Avenue

http://www.mcachicago.org

The artists conceived of this performance as one that may be experienced in combination with a related film screening (Feb 6) and symposium (Feb 12). These additional programs are free, but reservations are recommended. The MCA Box Office may be reached at 312.397.4010.

ARTISTS UP CLOSE
Film Screening: Films by Melika Bass
Sunday, February 6, 3 pm, MCA Theater
Melika Bass, the February UBS 12 x 12: New Artists / New Work artist, creates experimental films characterized by intricate, cyclical structures with an emphasis on sound and visual textures. Her recent film Waking Things (25 min), co-produced by Every house has a door, is screened along with her unrelated film Shoals (52 min). Bass attended many rehearsals to document the process of creating Let us think of these things always… She lifts several images, moments, and texts out of the performance and uses them as starting points for films that feature the same four cast members, playing “characters” that are cinematic.

First Night
Wednesday, February 9
Following the opening night performance, audience members are invited to stay for a talk with the company led by Peter Taub, Director of Performance Programs.

Symposium: Reconstructing Utopia: Cinema, Performance, and Ex-Yugoslavia
Saturday, February 12, 1-4 pm, MCA Theater
The genre-defying work of Serbian filmmaker Dušan Makavejev is explored, along with themes of utopia, theatricality, the body, and the law, in this conversation between Lin Hixson, co-founder of Every house has a door; Columbia University’s Carol Becker; Chicago artist Justin Cabrillos; and Stanford theater historian and theorist Branislav Jakovljevic.

Saturday Speakeasy
Saturday, February 12
Audience members are invited to mingle with the artists in the lobby following the performance, with cash bar and snacks available.

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, presents Every house has a door: Let us think of these things always. Let us speak of them never. on February 9-12 at 7:30 pm and February 13 at 3 pm. Performance tickets for Feb 9-10 are $22 and Feb 11-13 are 28 USD. Student tickets to MCA Stage performances are 10 USD and subject to availability. Running time: 80 minutes. The MCA Box Office may be reached at 312.397.4010 or www.mcachicago.org. The MCA is located at 220 East Chicago Avenue.

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Every house has a door was formed in 2008 to create project-specific collaborative performances with invited guests. The company was formed by Lin Hixson and Matthew Goulish, who were co-founders of the twenty-year collaboration of Goat Island. This company seeks to retain Goat Island’s narrow thematic focus and rigorous presentation, but to broaden the canvas to include careful intercultural collaboration.

In addition to Matthew Goulish’s founding roles with Every house and Goat Island, he created 39 Microlectures that was published in 2000, and Small Acts of Repair – Performance, Ecology, and Goat Island, Live Art and Performance, Theatre in Crisis?, which he co-edited with Stephen Bottoms, in 2007. He was awarded a Lannan Foundation Writers Residency in 2004, and in 2007 he received an honorary Ph.D. from Dartington College of Arts, University of Plymouth. Goulish is Provocations editor for The Drama Review, and he teaches in the MFA and BFA Writing Programs of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

In addition to Lin Hixson’s founding roles with Every house and Goat Island, she is full Professor of Performance at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and received an honorary doctorate from Dartington College of Arts in 2007. Her writing on directing and performance has been published in the journals P-Form, TDR, Frakcija, Performance Research, Women and Performance, and Whitewalls. Hixson has directed two films, Daynightly They re-school you The Bears-Polka and It’s Aching Like Birds, in collaboration with the artist Lucy Cash and Goat Island.
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Let us think… is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by P.S. 122 with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Fusebox Festival, and NPN. Support is also provided from the NPN Forth Fund.

Generous support for the 2010–11 season of MCA Stage is provided by Elizabeth A. Liebman, the Alphawood Foundation, and David Herro and Jay Franke. Air transportation is provided by American Airlines, the Official Airline of the Museum of Contemporary Art. In-kind equipment support is provided by Shure Incorporated. Accommodations are provided in part by The Seneca Hotel and Suites. The MCA is a proud partner of the National Performance Network. The MCA Stage is proud to be one of 69 NPN Partners across the U.S. who are dedicated to connecting today’s artists with contemporary audiences of all ages and cultures. NPN celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Learn more by visiting http://www.npnweb.org

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization accredited by the American Association of Museums. The MCA is generously supported by its Board of Trustees, individual and corporate members, private and corporate foundations, and government agencies including the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The Chicago Park District generously supports MCA programs. Air transportation is provided by American Airlines, the Official Airline of the Museum of Contemporary Art. The MCA is located at 220 E. Chicago Avenue, one block east of Michigan Avenue. The museum and sculpture garden are open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm and Tuesday from 10 am to 8 pm. The museum is closed on Monday. Enjoy free admission every Tuesday. Suggested general admission is 12 USD for adults and 7 USD for students and seniors. Children 12 years of age and under, MCA members, and members of the military are admitted free. Information about MCA exhibitions, programs, and special events is available on the MCA website at http://mcachicago.org or by phone at 312.280.2660.