«HAIRCUTS BY CHILDREN»

a project by Mam­malian Div­ing Reflex (Cana­da) with chil­dren from the fourth grade at the Weerth­schule edu­ca­tion­al cen­ter

“HAIRCUTS BY CHILDREN” is exact­ly what it sounds like. For one week, chil­dren from Weerth­schule have been trained in hair­cut­ting. Dur­ing the fes­ti­val, they offer free hair­cuts to the pub­lic. It is a per­for­mance about crazy hair­cuts, pow­er, and trust. The audi­ence and view­ers are asked to put aside their van­i­ty, relin­quish con­trol, and trust that a 10-year-old has the cre­ative abil­i­ty, skill, and respon­si­bil­i­ty to wield a pair of scis­sors.
In their work, the Cana­di­an col­lec­tive Mam­malian Div­ing Reflex seeks to over­whelm the audi­ence with ideas and sen­sa­tions so that intel­lect is aban­doned and intu­ition is giv­en prece­dence. They cre­ate site- and soci­ety-spe­cif­ic per­for­mance events, the­atre pro­duc­tions, par­tic­i­pa­to­ry instal­la­tions, videos, art objects, and the­o­ret­i­cal texts to encour­age dia­logue and break down bar­ri­ers between peo­ple by bring­ing peo­ple togeth­er in new and unusu­al ways.

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