I am a Dutch-Iranian artist and sociologist.
A common thread of influence in my artistic and life practice is my attitude towards death and its implications. Like many humans, I fear the discontinuity of my own consciousness. I also have nihilistic tendencies, which leaves me with only my current living body to rely on. I use the materiality of a human body, either of the spectator, the performer, or myself, as a medium to position myself against this discontinuity. I use the confrontation with the materiality of a human body as an opening to both otherworldliness as humbleness. Parallel to this, I am endlessly fascinated by the absurdity of the behavior in which these material bodies are poured into an everyday basis.
My current practice-based artistic research [working title: GUT] facilitates an experience of the body as material. Those who participate in the installations and performances linked to this research will be aurally immersed in the complex soundscape of the human underbelly. Sound which normally emanates from the small private space of a human body will now become part of a larger space: are there traces of the infinite in the finite body?
Diane Mahín
b. 1993 Maastricht, Netherlands | +31(0)625190654 | info@dianemahin.com
1032 JX Amsterdam | www.dianemahin.com
Education
2022 Sandberg Institute - MFA re:master Opera
2020 Maastricht, Institute of Performative Arts - MA Theatre
2019 Goldsmiths, University of London (UK) - MA Visual Sociology (distinction)
2017 University of the Arts Utrecht - Preparatory Course Fine Art
2017 Utrecht University - BSc Sociology
2017 Utrecht University - BA Liberal Arts and Sciences
2016 University of California Santa Barbara (USA) - Exchange (art/philosophy/history)
2013 Utrecht University – Minor Media en Culture
Exhibitions and performances
09.2022 Director + Performer: For a Long Time Now, co-created with Manuel Groothuysen, Amsterdam Fringe Festival
07.2022 Director: GUT 4, Over het IJ Festival, Amsterdam
05.2022 Director: GUT 3, Theater Kikker, Utrecht
04.2022 Dramaturg: One from The Heart, directed by Just van Bommel, Zaal 3, The Hague
03.2022 Director + Performer: For a Long Time Now, in collaboration with Manuel Groothuysen, The Spectrum Space x Instrument Inventors The Hague
02.2022 Assistant-Director: CRISPR, by Davy Pieters, Theater Rotterdam
10-11.12.2021 Director: Winternights Maastricht, This Connection of Everyone with Guts
09.2021 Montage director: Amsterdam Fringe Festival, Thank you for your Beauty, Just van Bommel en Kiriko Mechanicus
09-18.07.2021- Director: Zeecontainerprogramma Over het IJ festival, I think it’s a good thing that you came here
03.’19-05.’19 Postmortem Recordings, Expocafé Zamen, Amsterdam
11.’19-12.’19 Intervention during ‘De Laatste Aai’, Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam
02.11.2019 Museumnacht Amsterdam, Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam
26.07.2019 SNACK – Sociology is Not a Complete Knowledge, Greenwich West Community & Arts Centre, London (UK)
18.05.2019 Things to Do When You’re Dead, Cambridge City Crematorium (UK) 05.04.2019 Residual Matters, Goldsmiths, University of London (UK)
01.05.2016 Imprisoned [performance], UCSB, California (USA)
Residencies
03.2022 Instrument Inventors Initiative, The Hague
11.2021 NDSM-Theater Performance Technology Lab
07.2021 Pianofabriek Brussel Zomerresidentie GC De Markten
05.2021 WORM Rotterdam Performance Bar Residency
Work experience and commissions
2021 Performer: To Carry the Sun, IDFA Meets, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam
2021 Waitress: Jan van Eyck Academie, MAastricht
2019 Waitress: Expocafé Zamen, Amsterdam
2019 Trainee Public Programme: Prince Claus Fund, Amsterdam
2019 Set designer: VASSIŁINA, Albany Theatre, London (UK)
2019 Voice-over artist: Under Construction, door Julia Sterre Schmitz
2019 Performer: Sorry, What? during Prelon Musk: Acts of Kleinness, in Asylum Chapel, London (UK), directed by Eilidh Delves
2019 Co-curator: Residual Matters, Goldsmiths, University of London (UK)
2017 Performer: Alles Over Iets en Dingen en Niets, during Prepare Festival, Het Amsterdams Theaterhuis, Amsterdam, directed by Diede Daalman
2016 Producer: Jay’s Jazz Nights, Isla Vista, California (USA)
Memberships
2022 VIA ZUID Maker
2018- International Visual Sociology Association
2016 IV Open Lab (community art organisation), Isla Vista, California (USA)
Extracurricular training
2021 SPRING Academy, Julian Hetzel Masterclass
2021 Floris Visser Opera Directing Masterclass
2019 Ableton Live Beginners training, Goldsmiths, University of London
2016 Acting preparatory course, De Toneelmeester, Amsterdam
Thanks for getting in touch!