Blood Thirsty
Genre Performance
Duration 50 minutes
Language English
How much can a person contain? Working in a laboratory, between glass tubes, vials and refrigerators, organising blood. While pandemics spread and wars are fought.
With a sense of approaching disaster, strange reflections, desires, and visions begin to leak into the regulated repetitive routines…
With Blood Thirsty, Ira Melkonyan and Jimmy Grima continue their research into the performativity of liquids, venturing into perhaps the most symbolic bodily fluid. The artwork is based on personal archive and Ira’s diary entries written during the first year of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Re-imagining blood and other biological substances, the performance explores a feminist phantasy of leaking bodies, political borders and a sense of connection.
For Full Video Documentation, please contact Ira at ira@rubber-bodies.com.
Credits
| Written and performed by | Ira Melkonyan |
| Visual dramaturgy & technical design | Jimmy Grima / TinyIsland Studio |
| Performance dramaturgy | Maria Rößler |
| Artistic collaboration | Biljana Radinoska |
| Sound design | Isadora Tomasi |
| Song in Ukrainian | Marichka Shtyrbulova |
Full Production Credits
| wpZimmer (Antwerp, Belgium).VEEM House for Performance (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), BAU Dance and Performance GREENHOUSE (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Hellerau European Centre for the Arts (Dresden, Germany), Rampe Theatre (Stuttgart, Germany), Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart, Germany), Kinosaki Arts Centre (Kinosaki, Japan). Trip to Japan supported by the Arts Council Malta. | Ira Brand, Isobel Dryburgh, Polina Eremenko, and Justin Schembri |
| Production | rubberbodies collective |
| Co-produced by | SPRING Festival (Utrecht, the Netherlands) |
| Residency support | wpZimmer (Antwerp, Belgium).VEEM House for Performance (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), BAU Dance and Performance GREENHOUSE (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Hellerau European Centre for the Arts (Dresden, Germany), Rampe Theatre (Stuttgart, Germany), Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart, Germany), Kinosaki Arts Centre (Kinosaki, Japan). Trip to Japan supported by Arts Council Malta. |
Manifestations
| Sep 2025 | Rampe Theatre with Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart, DE) |
| Dec 2024 | Hellerau European Centre for the Arts (Dresden, DE) |
| Nov 2024 | CurieuCity Festival (Brussels, BE) |
| Oct 2024 | Kinosaki Arts Centre (Kinosaki, JP) |
| Sep 2024 | BAU Dance and Performance (Amsterdam, NL) |
| Jul 2024 | If I Can’t Dance (Amsterdam, NL, online) |
| May 2024 | SPRING Festival (Utrecht, NL) |
| May 2024 | VEEM House for Performance (Amsterdam, NL) |
| Sep 2023 | Het Huis (Utrecht, NL) |
| Dec 2022 | wpZimmer (Antwerp, BE) |