MAXmachina Fall 2025

Have a Great Night!

This piece takes the form of stand-up night with a host who will engage with the audience between each performance. The comedians, invested in becoming better artists and citizens, will collaboratively tell the story of how they trained with a propaganda expert to become funnier, more persuasive, and more fluent in their politics. They are here to demonstrate their newfound skills. This does not always go well. Or at least, does not go as expected. And isn’t very funny—but it is at times very funny. The show will begin like a stand-up night at a middle-of-the-road American comedy club and end like a harrowing documentary.

Vibrating Waiting for You to Touch

A mixed-reality performance that explores the sensorial and emotional experience of scrolling. It is a dance of scrolling thumbs—thumbs attached to hands performed by whole people. Through movement, sound, and absurdist costuming, props, and embodied exploration, the piece investigates how our bodies are disciplined by digital systems and how the intimate act of touch becomes flattened into functionality. This work asks: how do we touch a digital body? And can touch rehumanize the dehumanized scroll?

The Syntax of Undoing

Join Raymond Pinto and team.rolfes as they construct a performance that critically examines and extends the historical and conceptual legacy of "Happenings." The work will draw inspiration from a loose, interpretative reading of Shakespeare's The Tempest, with a particular focus on the play's inherent themes of doubling and power dynamics.

A central element of this reinterpretation involves the dynamic roles assigned to "Team Rolfes." Within the narrative structure of the syntax of undoing, Team Rolfes will embody a dual identity, serving as both Ariel and Caliban. This strategic doubling is not merely a symbolic gesture but a functional one; Team Rolfes will be instrumental in facilitating the multifaceted layers of doubling that permeate the performance. Furthermore, their agency will extend to the virtual dimension of the piece, where their movements and interactions will be essential to the intricate choreography of the live dancers. Their presence will thus bridge the physical and digital, influencing and responding to the unfolding narrative and movement. The presentation will be followed by a conversation between the artistic team, and you.

MAXlive and the MAXmachina laboratory program are supported in part by the Simons Foundation, the Ettinger foundation, public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, with additional support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation/EST, and the generous support of our individual donors.

Media Art Xploration (MAX) produces, develops, and deploys groundbreaking live-art experiences at the intersection of artistic expression, scientific inquiry, and technology. We foster collaboration between artists, scientists, and creative technologists to amplify critical dialogues, expand access to new ideas, and explore the impacts of innovation and scientific discovery on our shared human experience.

At MAX, we believe that the intersection of art, science, and technology is a powerful and borderless catalyst for change. Our work is driven by a commitment to spark curiosity, provoke thought, and create transformative experiences that shape our future. We seek to expand the boundaries of what art can achieve and how it can inspire meaningful action in the world.

¡Oye! Group is a Bushwick-based creative incubator for artists, students, and community members of all ages, both local and immigrant to New York City. Our work is grounded in the act of listening that gave us our company name: we curate art that sparks a dialogue over the political and social issues that our community tells us are critical to them. We present an eclectic mix of theater, dance, poetry, music, video installations, and film through festivals and productions. We work with emerging artists to create, play, and grow in an environment that challenges and supports them, and we engage youth and adults alike through high-quality arts education that provides them with the tools to generate forward-thinking art that compliments the work on our stages.

MITU580 is a multi-use art space in Brooklyn, NY founded and operated by interdisciplinary performance company, Mitu. The company has retrofitted this former glass recycling facility into 2,400 square feet of flexible space intended to intersect the fields of performance, installation art, new-media, and design. MITU580 is at once a studio space and performance venue to house all of Mitu’s programming, as well as a state-of-the-art production facility capable of hosting all types of innovative performances and events. This facility is a unique gathering place where interdisciplinary arts practice is interrogated, incubated, and produced.