Mollusk theory: soft bodies is a performance that dives into the ocean to find an unlikely theoretician in the cuttlefish, a soft-bodied mollusk.

Artist Madison Bycroft uses drag to perform various personas, whose multiple voices offer a new discourse of subjecthood, language and love. In Mollusk theory: soft bodies, she guides the audience from the human world, through the story of her birth, into the perspective of underwater invertebrates. A group of students from LASALLE’s School of Dance and Theatre plays the chorus, which accompanies Bycroft with song and dance. Together they propose theories of molluskian thought.

In 2017, Mollusk theory: soft bodies was presented at the Drodesera performing arts festival, Italy, and as part of the 13th Sharjah Biennial at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut.

Madison Bycroft (born Adelaide 1987, lives Paris and Rotterdam) crafts new imaginary worlds; her video, performance and writing test the boundaries and jargon conventionally associated with specific domains. Bycroft is at the same time actor, director and academic writer and queers all those roles. Her linguistic eclecticism is matched by her constant shifting of typecasting, with the help of costumes, wacky scripts and drag.

Bycroft is one of four artists in the group exhibition head heap heat at LASALLE’s Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore until 12 April 2018.

Image: Madison Bycroft, Mollusk theory: soft bodies, Drodesera performing arts festival, Dro, Italy, 2017. Photo: Alessandro Sala