roots + wires exists as a decentralized, anarchistic and (perhaps) never-ending work in progress. It is an ongoing research into the possibilities of media, sound, dance and performance to engage with the concept of the rhizome, as popularized in the writings of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari – A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia.
We are interested in the play between the memes of trees – as hierarchical, static, linear, vertical systems – and of grass (a rhizome) – as non-hierarchical, effervescent, non-linear and horizontal systems. To explore this, and other related Deleuzian concepts, we employ a diverse array of artistic strategies through a cluster of related, but individual, experiments. These clusters, or research plateaus, have been informed by our areas of expertise and non-expertise, our passion for interdisciplinary collaboration and non-hierarchical working process, our geographical and cultural context, the memelab’s DIY / lo-fi aesthetic, our sense of humour, and most importantly, our desire to find artistically sound ways to link politics and action.
From 2004 to present, we have been tackling topics such as: bodies without organs, multiplicity, state and war machines, striation, and becoming. Two major performance plateaus, r+w: lecture-demo & r+w: performative, resulted in the linking of several Deleuzian experiments into a single and repeatable performances. We danced, bent circuits, made videos, vj'd, created sound from samples of grass and trees (and more) - and presented the results to a live audience. Presentations have included: New Forms Festival & SWARM Festival (Sep 08), Rhubarb Festival/Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Feb 08), Making New Tracks Festival/MainDance (Apr 07), Salaam Salon V (Mar 07), Garden Dances (Jun 04), Blim (Jun 04).
Our current plateau of research, r+w: take me as we are, involves various investigations into social practice and co-creation - for example, co-cooking, something that we are calling 'radical voku'. We will be investigating these strategies during a 3-month residency at Incheon Art Platform in South Korea this winter.