Artist Matt Mullican and curator Vanessa Desclaux have been invited to conduct a research into the hypnosis performances of Mullican.

Vanessa Desclaux’s contribution to Performance in Residence is connected to the research she is doing at the Jan van Eyck Academy into fiction, fabulation and self-reflection in the work of Mullican. For If I Can’t Dance she will focus on a specific case from Mullican’s oeuvre. Following a yearlong archiving project at Hedah in Maastricht titled Work in Residence (2010–2011), Mullican’s performances have been inventoried and form the basis for a research that will result in a new work.

The final installment of Work in Residence takes place from Thursday 26 May until Sunday 29 May 2011. On Sunday Vanessa Desclaux will give a lecture in the project space of Hedah (Sint Nicolaasstraat 2, Maastricht). Work in Residence consists of the collection of all Mullican’s video’s with documentation and the stock-taking of all ‘actions’ – singing, sleeping, drinking, etc. – during the performances. Based on diverse criteria these compilation video’s will be made and will be shown in the exhibition. 

A solo exhibition, titled Organizing the World opens on June 10 at Haus der Kunst in Munich.