Alex Bailey
Salat und ich
In Salat und ich, Alex Bailey invites the audience into a personal and poetic exploration of migration, integration and obedience – both imposed and chosen. Emerging from personal experiences within contemporary bureaucratic structures, the performance explores the idea of a “domesticated feral” life, developed in collaboration with a canine partner.
The lecture performance weaves together Alex Bailey’s own experiences with bureaucratic systems such as the MA35, language and integration courses, and the often uncertain path to residency. At the heart of this solo work is a conceptual collaboration with a dog named Salat. The figure of the dog – and more specifically, the collar – becomes a powerful metaphor: a symbol of both restriction and belonging, of domestication and control. Whether leash, rein, or cage, these tools speak to the ways bodies are shaped to fit into societal norms – be they human or non-human. Through instinctive gestures and emotional responses, Alex Bailey questions systems that demand silent obedience. Alex Bailey describes their body as an octopus and their thinking as tentacular. Their movement draws on animal-inspired forms – the foxtrot, the lame duck, the crab step – with Roger Rabbit as a recurring companion. Alex Bailey approaches movement as an ancient, intuitive technology rooted in interspecies co-evolution. What does it mean to chase without asking? To submit in order to belong? Salat und ich searches for a space between the wild and the assimilated – a path that allows for both autonomy and connection.
Alex Bailey is a UK artist and performer based in Vienna. He studied in Amsterdam and together with Krõõt Juurak they created Performances for Pets an evolving 10-year series of interspecies performances. Performances for Pets is a performance made for cats and dogs and its experiences have spawned workshops, lectures and alternative ways of imagining companionship. Alex Bailey is the author of Humourology a study into humour related cosmic to comic communications. With Le Studio Film und Bühne, they worked with differently abled children to make performances with and for young audiences. They also perform alongside their young child and co-parent as a non-nuclear family entitled Codomestication. It has been shown at Tanzquartier Wien, CNDB Bucharest and Temporary Gallery Köln.
Accessibility
The lecture performance takes place in a rehearsal room on the 1st floor. It is only accessible via a staircase. There is no elevator available. A barrier-free toilet is located on the ground floor.
Credits
Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA 7)
Dates & Tickets
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
Content Notes
No live animals are present in the lecture performance.
The artist speaks openly about their own experiences with mental health, including personal encounters with psychiatric care and psychotherapy. The content is autobiographical and anecdotal. Rather than being represented theatrically, these experiences are shared through direct speech. Recommended from the age of 16.
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