"The clever ease with which existential themes are touched upon here is a great art"; "a temporary community of solidarity has emerged that has the potential to continue"(Katja Kollmann, TAZ Magazin, 2021)
Risk Lab is a hybrid series of the participatory performances about risk in art and artists-at-risk. How can performing arts dismantle the distance caused by political oppression and forced migration, using technology? How can we create a sense of solidarity and propose an alternative view on the future, that could start already now in the theatre space, by sharing risks and privileges? Internet and projections help Ada Mukhína to create a 360° video studio where the audience situated in one geographical location is connected to and challenged by risk-taking artists from around the world.
For each Risk Lab performance, Ada Mukhína invites a different artist, who has a special relation to risk in their work or life, to join her over Zoom in the theatre for a live meeting with the audience. Working remotely before the performance, they prepare artistic provocations, invitations or questions for the audience that make the audience think about the meaning of risk in different contexts, question the role of art in today’s society, and take action towards the desired future.
Concept, Director, Performer: Ada Mukhína
Episode 1
Guest artist – Abhishek Thapar (India / Netherlands)
Together with theatre-maker, performer and puppeteer Abhishek Thapar, Ada Mukhina explored the topic of “artistic crimes” in relation to the looted cultural objects presented in the British Museum.
Premiere – Camden People’s Theatre (London), October 2018.
Episode 2
Guest artist – Anis Hamdoun (Syria / Germany)
Together with director and writer Anis Hamdoun, Ada established a fictional organisation Mirror International that aims to protect artists at risk by “laundering” their art and names by audience members with the “good” passports.
Premiere – Camden People’s Theatre (London), October 2018.
Episode 3
Guest artists – Anna Sagalchik & Tim Tkachev (Belarus / Russia)
Together with theatre group 12:12, Anna Sagalchik and Tim Tkachev, Ada Mukhína explored the boundaries of European solidarity in relation to aftermaths of the Belarusian protests.
Premiere – Radar Ost Festival, Deutsches Theater (Berlin), October 2021.
Woyzeck in der Diaspora (DE) Review by Katja Kollmann. Taz Magazine, 11.10.2021.
Episode 4
Guest artist – Elina Kulikova (Russia / at the moment of performance in exile in Georgia)
Together with theatre director, performer and writer Elina Kulikova, Ada Mukhína explored the aftermaths of Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine for antiwar artists, mass emigration, and the US-Mexican border politics.
Premiere – The Gathering by Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (Georgetown University, Washington DC), May 2022.
Episode 5
Guest artist – Anton Ryanov (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)
Together with artist with personal experience of disability, philologist and curator of contemporary and inclusive art projects Anton Ryanov, Ada Mukhína explored the question: Is solidarity of the vulnerable inside the inclusive community possible in the times of isolation?
Premiere took place at the oldest inclusive theatre festival in Germany, Grenzenlos Kultur Festival, at Staatstheater Mainz in September 2022.
Episode 6
Guest artist – Azade Shahmiri (Iran / Germany)
Present in Berlin and absent in St. Petersburg and Tehran, Ada and Azade, framed as “exiled artists” in a new context, try to reflect on relocation as a form of resistance. How can one maintain critical thinking towards the current status quo, knowing that one’s critique is part of the system one is criticizing?
Premiere – Theater Rampe, Stuttgart, March 2024.
Supported by the Fonds Darstellende Künste. In coproduction with RAMPE.
