Opened: 2023
In English

“Richárd Melykó is a graduate of Freeszfe’s second “theater and performance” class, founded after the radical restructuring of the University of Theatre and Film. His exam performance, in which he explores the willingness and the dynamics of the crowd in relation to a performance situation that makes the spectator a participant, invites us on an intellectual and thought-provoking adventure. In this interactive production, which both evokes and subtly parodies the genre of lecture performance, Melykó, who originally studied inter-media, leads the audience of Mass Orbit from a performative examination of his own position as a performer to the realization of a community performance in a (pseudo)scientific linguistic framework. With a well-constructed, suggestive and at the same time self-mocking performer presence, he introduces us to the conceptual field he has set up, and while he reflects on our own crowd-forming behavior in connection with the “orbit” of the “massa”, by the end of the performance, he creates, with our participation, the material manifestation of the performance, the mass of Orbit, also to be interpreted as an intellectual flick. Mass Orbit is a youthfully cheeky, yet mature and thought-provoking theatrical adventure that is both enjoyable and memorable.” Júlia Sándor, curator

CREDITS

Concept, performed by: Richárd Melykó
Set and animation: Haibo Illés
Mentors: Ádám Czirák, Tamara Zsófia Vadas
Sound consultant: Dávid Somló
Co-producer: Freeszfe Association

Special thanks: Adrienn Hód, László Hudi, Zája Melykó, Zsuzsa Berecz, Sarah de
Günther, Péter Mendel, Luca Kovács, Ildikó Lanstyák, Eszter Éva Andrádi, Orsolya
Fodor, Csongor Tóth

|| 14+ ||

REVIEWS

‘Melykó effectively points out how the theatre as we know it today is a highly
disciplinary institution.’
Noémi Herczog, The inhabitants of the snail house, MŰBÍRÁLAT – SZÍNHÁZ – LXVII. year, 26. journal number, 30.06.2023

‘Richárd Melykó did not start out from a personal story, he is more interested in the
performative situation: what triggers the audience, how it becomes a community, and how to show and make the audience aware of these characteristics during the performance. This sometimes gives me the feeling that I am watching a witty stand-up specifically for theatre professionals, or rather for theorists (...) And perhaps, in the frameworks of a stomach-churning, yet uplifting gesture, we can also experience how the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts.’
Andrea Rádai, Idil; Massza Orbit, Magyar Narancs, XXXV. year 24 journal number, 15.06.2023

Richárd Melykó 

… (1994) graduated in Intermedia at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in
2022. He continued his studies at the Freeszfe Society in Theatre and Performance.
In 2018, he participated in the Transart Communication - TAC30 performance festival (Sturovo; Bratislava). He is a member of the audiovisual performance group EM90 (Barnabás Bácsi, Rozina Pátkai, Dániel Németh, Áron Tihanyi), founded in 2017. Since 2020, he has been working with Haibo Illés as a visual art and performance duo, the primary collaboration in terms of his artistic activity: in 2021, they participated in the IIIInternational Forum of Performance Art, and in the same year, they presented their audio-drama about the adoption law, entitled Lasting Love Community, on Tilos Radio. Also in 2021, they won FUGA’s Post-Stadium-Stage idea competition. In 2022, they presented their performance titled ‘DramaticHighlights’ as part of the Liberty EU international collaboration.

In 2022, they presented their3-hour installation art performance ‘Binary Roadway’ at the Trafó Gallery as part of the ‘Support Structures’ event series. In 2023, they presented their performance ‘Still Playback’ at the 4th NEXTFEST at Trafó Budapest. This year, they were selected to participate in the residency programme of the BazaarPerformance and Dance Festival in Prague. Richárd Melykó operates primarily with the conceptual as well as the suggestive possibilities of performance, recently experimenting with this in the form of lecture-performance, essay-performance and performance-installation.

Richárd Melykó has been a member of the GYIK Workshop since 2018. (The GYIK
Workshop - Children and Youth Art Workshop-1975 was founded following the vision of Árpád Szabados, later Dean of the MKE, and Ildikó Várnagy, at the request of the management of the Hungarian National Gallery at the time.) The aim of the workshop was to integrate the issues of contemporary art into the creative process and to nurture talent. Richárd Melykó represents mainly the performative side of the workshop, often creating with the children in public spaces, building on movement and intervention. He is also responsible for introducing the older age group to experimental video art with the help of various exercises.

CONTACT

Haibo Illés
haibomelyko@gmail.com
+36.30.537.58.67

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