NEW YORK—M.I.M.E. was formed in the spring of 1999 as a
collective effort to revitalize the the artform of Mime. The
original members Delia Gonzales, Gavin Russom, Chris Holstad,
Sigrun Hrolfsdottir and Aleksandra Mir never set down any rules for
M.I.M.E. but to get together when we feel like being mimes and to
do what we think a mime might want to do in any given moment and
situation. Due to our disparate schedules and geographic
dislocation, the five of us have never even managed to appear
intact as a group. But we don’t mind miming in solitude, or
together with other guest mimes. Both friends and family members
have contributed to M.I.M.E.
Among our appearances, there has been a couple of M.I.M.E. swims
in public pools in Europe and the US, a Ku Klux Klan M.I.M.E.,
various M.I.M.E. events honoring French culture, M.I.M.E. drinking
in bars involving the public, and solitude M.I.M.E. meditations
deep in the Icelandic interior. M.I.M.E. has been on Public Access
TV and made a special project for the literary magazine Open
City . One day, we would like to create a large, ambitious
M.I.M.E. opera at the Met, or mime for the Pope. So far, our most
ambitious attempt, the mimodrama 'Life is Beautiful', conceived for
the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in May 1999, was cancelled due to
budget constraints. M.I.M.E., however, is the undiscriminating
ability to produce oneself in and transcend any given condition or
framework.
It is a great freedom to be in M.I.M.E.
The M.I.M.E. Scripts
Scripts for four mimodramas by Sigrun Hrolfsdottir
and and one
ending by Aleksandra Mir
#1
— The ambulance will arrive in the courtyard.
I would love if we could get a reckless driver who would screech on
the gravel surface. People would be alarmed. M.I.M.E.s would look
out the windows. Two M.I.M.E.s would be sitting in front with the
driver, which is the American way. M.I.M.E.s would wait for the
people and the car engine to calm down. Then M.I.M.E.s would very
elaborately and slowly mimishly open all ambulance doors and crawl
out like zombies from B-movies. Except for the driver who would
wear sunglasses and just chill in the car. (Maybe he would be
listening to a tape, which would be playing total redneck music,
Lyrnd Skynrd for example, but not too loud.) M.I.M.E.s would then
make a circle around the ambulance. We are five people so it would
have to be kind of assymetrical. M.I.M.E. # 1 would then pull a
small ball from a secret compartment in its attire, and mimishly
throw it over the ambulance. That way a M.I.M.E. GAME would
start
#2
—
An ambulance screeches on the gravel
surface in a courtyard of a famous museum. People look up. All of a
sudden M.I.M.E.s open the back door of the ambulance and throw out
ten or more big pillows. M.I.M.E.s carefully aim their shots with
the pillows. M.I.M.E. # 1 then jumps out mimishly onto one pillow.
Then another and another. With every new M.I.M.E. jumping from the
ambulance, another makes the hard jump to the next pillow.
M.I.M.E.s never touch the earth. After a while the circle is
concluded and M.I.M.E.s all make it more or less safely back to
their ambulance. The driver then takes them home
#3
—
An ambulance arrives with full sirens
screaming in the courtyard. Then slowly it comes to a halt. The
noise is turned down and things seem to slow down all together.
Then there is a sudden jump at the rear end. Slowly the whole truck
starts rocking from obvious movement inside it. There are knocks
and jumps and little screams and laughter and giggles. Five free
people (like in commercials) burst out of the back of the
ambulance. They love the fresh air. They all express it in their
mimely way
#4
— M.I.M.E. #4
has a little bundle under its
arm. It’s a little tent. M.I.M.E.s help each other raise the tent.
They all are soooo enthusiastic about it. The tent is black and
white and M.I.M.E.s dance around it. Then they peel off all their
extra white fabric and make a little campfire. M.I.M.E.s can do
everything. One has a guitar, one has a harmonica, one has
marshmallows. But it is all invisible to other people
One ending— After an hour of various camping
activities the M.I.M.E.s begin to pack up their stuff. The
ambulance is slightly overcrowded. The skis and the tent stick out,
the inflatable M.I.M.E. canoe is still half-inflated. The grill
needs cleaning but nobody wants to do it. Tired but happy they all
take their seats in the ambulance and wave good-bye. The sirens go
on. The ambulance backs out and leaves the courtyard. But wait! It
suddenly stops and there is silence. The back door opens and the
smallest M.I.M.E. jumps out and runs back to the campsite. They
forgot their caged canary. She opens the cage and lets the canary
free. (It probably doesn’t fly very far, but still.) The M.I.M.E.
ambulance drives away.
Good-bye
M.I.M.E. Letter
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
, New York, April 6,
1999
Thank you for considering M.I.M.E. for your upcoming performance
event. As per our phone conversation yesterday, we understand that
there is no funding set aside for the artists in this program and
will thus unfortunately not be able to participate. The half-hour
mimodrama Life is Beautiful , which we thought to present,
was conceived as a site-specific piece for P.S.1. It is an
ambitious and demanding work that includes both the hire of an
ambulance to enter the courtyard (with the sirens on full blast)
and the plastering of our limbs to constrict our movements - a
state which will last for several hours
During the summer months, M.I.M.E. will perform spontaneously in
various public and private spaces. We would therefore hope that our
relationship with the museum would be a mutually supportive one:
our material costs list only the bare disposable necessities, and
our fee is merely symbolic.
Feel free to keep our budget and
proposal on file for your summer series. We are able to put the
production together at two-weeks' notice, but as some of the mimes
may be traveling during the summer, please check back with us ahead
of time.
We are looking forward to raising our black-and-white
tent and burning our marshmallows in your courtyard
Sincerely
M.I.M.E.
More M.I.M.E. in 2001
By Chris Holstad
The M.I.M.E.s appeared recently at a ’60s French scene party
where we made $80. Here is the scenario:
6 mimodramas were performed. The cast was Delia Gonzales with a
hot little off-the-shoulder striped number she made herself. Very
glamorous. Gavin Russom was also a pretty sight. He wore an old
French moustache-and-mouth party disguise as a mask. I was in all
black, with white make-up and black thread hanging off my face as
accents, and flip-up round glasses
#1
— We arrived at the club with a 15-foot
baguette (many bread loaves attached together with hot glue and
tongue depressors). This fell apart on the ride over. We put Saran
Wrap™ around the bread to keep it together. We came into the space
with the baguette and Delia pulled a sparkler out of the bread and
mimed being the Statue of Liberty, in homage to the French gift.
Gavin pulled a flash light out of the bread and shined it at the
guests’ privates and eyes. I hung my butt off the edge of the stage
and pooped out 7 feet of bread. We of course had a soundtrack of
French music and movie montage
#2—
Delia and Gavin came out and made out in
different areas of the club. I followed their faces with
flashlight. Backwards French music with screams. They kept on
mashing mouth until much fake blood came from their mouths. Still
kissing, Gavin shoots them with illegal cap guns in the head. Gavin
said he was as close to throwing up as possible from the intense
fructose in the fake blood
#3—
A 6-foot beret was made of cardboard. We
all came out under it and ran back and forth to some more montaged
sound track. This made us laugh a lot and feel sick
#4—
I came out with a white sheet with black
daisies on and laid it in the center of the room. Gavin was in
charge of the flashlight. Delia began untying a red scarf from
around my neck. I fell onto the daisies revealing the picture of
Aleister Crowley on my back. The red scarf came from the point of
his finger. Delia pulled 20-feet of red from this source. A drunk
man in the audience wanted to assist Delia as soon as she started
so Gavin proceeded to blind him for the rest of the program with
the flashlight. Also fucked up music
#5
— Another big beret sequence. Much laughter
by us and feeling sick. Too much spinning and laughing.
At this
point we were asked to not perform any more. We are real mimes. I
feel very close to my fellow mime family. Marcel, Jean, Michael
Jackson, I love you.
We were paid and then we left
Love always, Chris