How to Hide on Stage

91.5 degrees in the city; people are sweltering. What better spot for sweat to flow down from an artificial hairpiece than underneath the stage lights? Where does this desire to slap on a wig for performance’s sake come from? In his performances, Mayr favors the longhair wig, preferably blond. In so doing, he oscillates somewhere between emphatic Motörhead masculinity and alloyed blond stereotypes disguised as a men’s joke. Mayr remains incognito; he leaves the protective shell of the often-used camping tent and allows an interplay of intimacy and distancing, all the while enveloped by a magnificent, blond head of hair. Brute, libidinal notes are sounded in this tension-filled sphere, and the audience members inevitably sway and rock along to the frantic bustle. (Martina Fitzek)
Sound performances, installations, and the instruments (not just musical instruments) and built constructs that are used. Raw visual material, video stills, cell-phone images, posters, and hand-drawn conceptual designs. The authors of the 6 featured texts: Friends, colleagues, companions. “I would say it’s an artist’s book.” (Albert Mayr)