Sarah Buckius and Melanie Manos | The ManosBuckius Cooperative (The MBC)
Biography I
The ManosBuckius Cooperative creates video and live performance responding to labor and productivity in highly unproductive ways. MBC videos have screened at video, new media and electronic art festivals around the global including in Kalamata, Jakarta, Varna, Melbourne, Perth, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Berlin, Munich, Athens, Speyer, Basel, Marseilles, Madrid, Girona, Orebro, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Tucson. Their most recent work is a multi-person live performance The MBC @ The Library, for "Bookmarks" at the University of Michigan, addressing the shift from analog to digital in form and in labor. Other work includes two site-specific live-to-feed performance interventions: Ohio State University; and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; two live performances: Performance Studies International, New York University; ArtPrize, Grand Rapids; two solo shows: InSpace Gallery, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids; and The Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, MI; and a multi-channel installation for the exhibition Primary, at Kendall College of Art & Design.
Biography II
The ManosBuckius Cooperative creates video and live performance responding to labor and productivity in highly unproductive ways. Finding humor in absurd situations caused by cultural and systemic constraints, they are inspired by the physical and visual work of Lucille Ball, Jacques Tati and DEVO. Recently their research and camera lens is focused on domestic and caregiving work, which they each undertake in their families. Manos and Buckius both grew up in the American Midwest, Michigan and Illinois, respectively, and met while attending the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design MFA program. Their collaborative and solo work have been shown nationally and internationally.