Mike Brookes
Although initially trained as a painter, Brookes' practice has always bridged media. Known primarily for the production of durational objects, images, interventions, and context-specific live art - his work has involved elements as diverse as painting, photography, sampling, large scale and multiple projection, short-range and satellite radio broadcast technology, mobile phones, helicopters, cars, trains, surveillance cameras, ice sculpture and drawing - and has proposed and developed innovative practices and strategies within the form, function, and placement of live art. He co-founded the performance collective Pearson/Brookes with performer and academic Mike Pearson in 1997, their work together being generally perceived to have pioneered mediated and multi-site performance practices - most recently co-creating their large scale located theatre work Coriolan/us, within a vast 1930s aircraft hangar in South Wales, commissioned jointly by the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre Wales for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Brookes is currently developing a long-term collaborative practice with Spanish artist and performer Rosa Casado, producing context-specific actions and gallery works under the umbrella title Some things happen all at once, some things happen more slowly, their work having been commissioned and presented widely across Europe, Asia, Australasia, South America, and the USA. In 2007 he was appointed Research Fellow within Aberystwyth University, and received a doctorate for his contributions to intermedial and located performance and live art in 2015.
Projects:
2011 - What if everything we know is wrong?, action and performance project [ongoing]
2010 - Just a little bit of history repeating, site specific action and intervention series [ongoing]
2009 - The perfect human (and the things we do), context specific performance project
2008 - One thing leads to another, context specific intervention and object series [ongoing]
2008 - Some things happen all at once, context specific performance project
2008 - Something happening, context specific intervention and image series [ongoing]
2007 - Accidental death in peacetime, object and intervention series [ongoing]
2007 - Small pieces of everything, object and image series [ongoing]
2002 - Objects with pictures, large scale painting and drawing series [ongoing]
2000 - Something burning, action and intervention series [ongoing]
1997 - Pearson/Brookes, performance collective [ongoing]
Live:
2013 - What if everything we know is wrong?, Pradillo, Madrid, Spain
2013 - Cove walk, Brown University, Providence, USA
2013 - Introduced birdsong, Brown University, Providence, USA
2013 - Greetings from Salina, Salina Art Center, Kansas, USA
2012 - Coriolan/us, NTW and RSC, St Athan, Wales
2012 - The perfect human (and the things we do), Teatro Sociale, Bellinzona, Switzerland
2012 - What if everything we know is wrong?, Artium, Vitoria, Spain
2012 - What if everything we know is wrong?, PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany
2011 - Just a little bit of history repeating, BAD, Bilbao, Spain
2011 - One thing leads to another, PNRM, Olot, Spain
2011 - What if everything we know is wrong?, Brown University, Providence, USA
2010 - Just a little bit of history repeating, b-side, Weymouth, UK
2010 - The perfect human (and the things we do), Es Terni, Terni, Italy
2010 - The perfect human (and the things we do), HUA, Berlin, Germany
2010 - The Persians, NTW, Sennybridge, Wales
2009 - 19 academics an a bear / snapshot, AHRC, University of Wales, UK
2009 - One small white house far away (with music), AHRC, University of Wales, UK
2009 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), La Laboral Centro de Arte, Gijón, Spain
2009 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Wiener Festwoche, Vienna, Austria
2009 - Some things happen all at once, Centro Parraga, Murcia, Spain
2009 - Some things happen all at once, Theaterformen, Hannover, Germany
2009 - Something burning / snapshot, Temporada Alta, Girona, Spain
2009 - Something happening, something happening nearby, AHRC Exeter University, UK
2009 - The perfect human (and the things we do), BAD, Bilbao, Spain
2009 - The perfect human (and the things we do), Inteatro, Jesi, Spain
2009 - Welsh landscapes, Chapter, Cardiff, Wales, UK
2008 - 300 people and a bear / snapshot, MAPA, Pontos, Spain
2008 - One small white house far away (with music), American Academy in Rome, Italy
2008 - One small white house far away (with music), PNRM, Olot, Spain
2008 - One thing leads to another, Intreatro, Polverigi, Italy
2008 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Academia de España, Rome, Italy
2008 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Centro Huarte, Navarra, Spain
2008 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), HAU, Berlin, Germany
2008 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), HKD, Rijieka, Croatia
2008 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), VEO, Valencia, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Castilla-La Mancha, Puertollano, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Centro Torrrente Ballester, Ferrol, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Escena Abierta, Burgos, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Escena Contemporánea, Madrid, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Mladi Levi, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2008 - Some things happen all at once, PNRM, Olot, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Transforma, Senigallia, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Zadar Snova, Zadar, Croatia
2008 - Something burning / snapshot, Short3, Rome, Italy
2007 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), A-PART, Girona, Spain
2007 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), BAD, Bilbao, Spain
2007 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), CW Post University, New York, USA
2007 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Experiencias, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2007 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Inteatro XXX, Polverigi, Italy
2007 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Pradillo, Madrid, Spain
2007 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Universität der Künste, Berlin, Germany
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), CARNI, Melbourne, Australia
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), ARCO 06, Madrid, Spain
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Biennale dell’Immagine, Como, Italy
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Crossroads Festival, Singapore
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Instituto Cervantes, Madrid, Spain
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Luxembourg Gardens, Auckland, NZ
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Mira al sur, Sevilla, Spain
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Otago University, Dunedin, NZ
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), PANORAMA 06, Olot, Spain
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Performance Center, Wellington, NZ
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Perishable, Providence, USA
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Sala Fierabrás, Ciudad Real, Spain
2006 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Wheaton Collage, Massachussets, USA
2005 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), Perishable, Providence, USA
2005 - Paradise 2 (the incessant sound of a falling tree), University of Wales, UK
2005 - Saints, Chapter, Cardiff, Wales
2004 - There’s someone in the house, AHRC Exeter University, UK
2004 - Who are you looking at?, Chapter, Cardiff, Wales
2002 - Metropolitan motions, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany
2002 - Rain dogs, Chapter, Cardiff, Wales
2001 - Baroque, Sonov, Czech Republic
2001 - Carrying Lyn, Chapter, Cardiff, Wales
2001 - Polis, Arts Council of Wales, Cardiff, Wales
2000 - But it will turn out wrong [act 1], Centre for Performance Research, Wales
1999 - The last bus [of the millenium], Small acts, UK
1999 - Body of evidence, IETM, Cardiff, Wales
1998 - Dead men’s shoes, Londrina Festival, Brazil
1998 - The man who ate his boots, Arts Council of Wales, Wales
1998 - The first five miles, Arts Council of Wales, Mynydd Bach, Wales
1997 - Dead men’s shoes, Arts Council of Wales, Wales
Residencies:
2013 - Just a little bit of history repeating, Brown University, Providence, USA
2013 - Just a little bit of history repeating, Salina Art Center, Kansas, USA
2012 - What if everything we know is wrong?, PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany
2011 - What if everything we know is wrong?, Brown University, Providence, USA
2010 - Just a little bit of history repeating, Bilbao Eszena, Bilbao, Spain
2009 - Something happening, MAPA, Pontos, Spain
2009 - The perfect human (and the things we do), Bilbao Eszena, Bilbao, Spain
2009 - The perfect human (and the things we do), Inteatro, Polverigi, Italy
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Centro de Arte Torrente Ballester, Ferrol, Spain
Exhibitions:
2008 - Historic miniatures, Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
2008 - Some things happen all at once, American Academy in Rome, Italy
2008 - Some things happen all at once, Ultimisimos, Centro Torrrente Ballester, Ferrol, Spain
2006 - Two dead birds, Lines and strata, Oriel Mwldan, Cardigan
2005 - Object with pictures, National Eisteddfod of Wales
2002 - Two thousand gallons, Watershed, Silkeborg Bad, Denmark
1997 - Child, Chapter Gallery, Cardiff
Presentations:
2013 - Just a little bit of history repeating, Brown University, Providence, USA
2013 - Just a little bit of history repeating, Salina Art Center, Kansas, USA
2011 - What if everything we know is wrong?, Brown University, Providence, USA
2010 - Just a little bit of history repeating, Bilbao Eszena, Bilbao, Spain
2009 - El ser humano perfecto (the perfect human), Bilbao Eszena, Bilbao, Spain
2009 - El ser humano perfecto (the perfect human), Encuentros con la escena, Bilbao, Spain
2006 - Pearson/Brookes, Exeter University, UK 2005 - Who are you looking at?, PARIP, UK
2004 - There’s someone in the house, Exeter University, UK
2003 - Water[war]s, Hemispheric Institute NYU, New York, USA
2001 - More information than I really require, BBC Digital Arts, Cardiff, UK
Awards:
2012 - Best Production 2012, Critics of Wales Awards, UK
2010 - Best Design 2010, TMA, UK
2007 - Creative Research Fellowship, University of Wales, UK
2007 - Creative Wales Award, Arts Council of Wales, UK