Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade (My Barbarian), Visiting Artist Lecture 2019

Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade– two thirds of My Barbarian– give a lecture at Skowhegan talking about their individual and collaborative practices spanning the last 19 years. Their work is rooted in looking at performances in different national contexts from the 1960s which borrowed liberally and promiscuously from international national leftist politics, importing them to specific black political contexts. Gaines also talks about his current trajectory as a professor and writer, and Segade talks about his project of exploring a science fiction narrative about intergalactic colonization. The two artists reflect on My Barbarian being a space where they can respond to spectacles and play with a received understanding for how narrative unfolds in their work. Other notions of interest in their work includes questions around cultural appropriation, seeing genre as a tool to play with questions that are quotational, referential and research based, the relationship between theatre and politics, and the importance of working with groups. Gaines and Segade then go onto talk about how My Barbarian is working with a project called the post living anti-action theatre which adapts political theatre sets to learn how to collaborate with a larger group and the pros and cons of scaling up. My Barbarian ends their lecture playing music for the participants and creating a group exercise for all of them to perform.