b. 1980 Dublin, Ireland

Mariechen Danz’s ritualistic performance works dredge up ancient cultural forms that haunt our collective unconscious ”fertility goddess totems, elaborate headdresses, priestly robes, mystical amulets,“ and infuse them with a perverse futurism culled from science fiction and experimental electronic music. Often, these performances mimic the form of incantatory rites or religious chants, ”though what magic is being worked, or what manner of gods are being called upon remains tantalizingly obscure. In her work Complain the Explanation (2008), Danz, dressed in an unwieldy suit emblazoned with child-like drawings, leads what seems to be a group of acolytes in a call and response chant, which gradually builds from a sporadic series of yelps and groans into a fully orchestrated electronic groove.