Welcome to the first of our performance series. The Performance Lab at M{IF} a space of experimentation, rehearsal and performance under the theme The fierce urgency of now.
Our performance series will be activated by three performances.

Vishnu Vardhani Rajan ___19h00
'Tuning the Gaze'. 

Tuning the Gaze is a process of moving and being witnessed in very specific ways, the mover determining the gaze of the watcher. It can be seen as a way of deconstructing subject and object positions in dance (and maybe life...) It is part of a body of work developed at the Radical Contact gatherings; work that combines the study and practice of contact improvisation with embodied approaches to social and political questions.
Vishnu Is a Body Philosopher, performance artist,Yoga teacher and co-curator of the Performance Lab. In this performance she seeks connections between the idea of the gendered gaze and various strands of psychoanalytic theory. Is the gaze structured? Is there a connection between Feminism and Marxist's appropriation of psychoanalysis? Is the gaze always accompanied by speculations about gender, Colour, Class? 
What is the workings of desire we superimpose on to the one we gaze at?

Kaisa Kukkonen ___20h00
Gesa Piper
'Prisenceesses'
(prisons,senses and princesses)

Our journey started from the idea of a Somatic Bootcamp. We met for the contemplative movement practice over a period of time in the beginning of year 2018, a practice of non-definable movement, altered logic and meaning.
In front of an audience, the interest shifts into the play that messes with a too direct interpretation and presumptions of aesthetics and looks. In the context of this performance, we are exploring how to stretch beyond the generic conclusions of how and under which circumstances one is allowed to sense the ambivalent aspects of how sensing is performed. We wish to challenge an idea that sense-practices are directly linked to a liberation of the self.

with love, Gesa and Kaisa

Rogério Nuno Costa____20h40
(1917-19)
work in progress/open rehearsal

(1917-19) is the working title of my upcoming theatre work, set to premiere in Portugal in September 2018. A cross-disciplinary collaboration between Portuguese and Finnish artists. Taking the poetics of the solitary artist as a visual, literary and dramaturgical starting point, the piece will be based in a textual/autobiographical narrative in the form of a “dialogical monologue”, or the building of a solitary togetherness. For this very first work-in-progress presentation at M{IF}, I will test the presence of silence and invisibility in the performance’s dramaturgical structure.

The Performance Lab at M{IF} happens every second Friday of the month and is curated by Vishnu Rajan and Christopher Wessels.

Museum of Impossible Forms is located at Keinulaudankuja 4 E at Kontula shopping mall, 2nd floor
Map here: https://museumofimpossibleforms.org/getting-there/
Accessibility: the space is wheelchair accessible, doorsteps max. 4 cm. Toilet not fully accessible, it has no steps, yet is small. Nearest accessible toilet is located at Kontula metro station.