Miami Performance International Festival

Festival from July 26^th to 29^th 2012.

Organized in the framework of the Edge Zones project (since 2004) which is a non-profit artistic organization, the first international performance festival will take place in Miami. Its theme is “the art of the unsure”. The curators of this performance festival are Charo Oquet (Dominican Republic), Cristy Alamaida and Tori Arpad-Cotta.

By granting performance three days of expression, the festival aims at defying the current artistic concepts. It is interested in various practices and in a wide range of styles linked to the art of performance. Each artist has a different strategy and imprints his performative action within a more global dialectic, often involved in a dialogue with the environment where the performance is happening. The urban context in performance often plays a major part. As a matter of fact, the physical place but also the theoretical place where the performance takes place dramatically change. The Miami Performance International Festival analyzes the conceptual frameworks of performances with “live” participation of 32 artists who are masters of performance and performative installation.

The documentation of the performing act being just as much necessary and crucial, a large part of the festival will be dedicated to videos and photographs meant to document the performances. In parallel of the performances that will happen in the city of Miami, this event, which is a real platform of experiment, will welcome lectures, artist talks and workshops.

: Johan Mijail Castillo, Doers, still from video © Johan Mijail Castillo

The strong participation of artists from the Dominican Republic is also noteworthy. Johan Mijail Castillo presents the documentation of a performance entitled Doers which explores three major themes of the art of performance: movement, time and space, through dance and choreographed gestures.

: Pery Jimenez, Abismos © Miami Performance International Festival

Pery Jimenez as for him is interested in the abysses and the “muffled and desperate screams of a humanity surrounded by ends of eras, historical conclusions and by dark and occult dramas, where life fades away and our thoughts die down”. It is a real reflection on our propensities to see the end of the world and to swing towards “chaos” rather than towards the impulse of life. Eventually, it is an analysis of the tension between Eros and Thanatos, which is as current as ever.

: Ismael Ogando © Miami Performance International Festival

Ismael Ogando ponders on the Dominican culture starting from his personal experiences particularly as regards « standards » of skin color, sexual orientation and political orientation. This is a plunge to the origin of the idiosyncrasy of his country.

Downtown Miami (Spanish Cultural Center at 1490 Biscayne Boulevard), the Miami Design District, Botanical Gardens of the City of Miami Beach (Bayan Room & Butterfly Room), USA.

Festival from July 26^th to 29^th 2012.

Free.

www.miamiperformancefestival.org