Michael Moschen: Mysterious Forces
Michael Moschen’s new show on creativity and the creative process begins by exploring how learning is something we do throughout our entire lives. As we move through life, different individual experiences and evolving environmental factors change the context of how and what we learn. To continue to accomplish the goal of learning, we must continue to acquire new skills. Whatever the subject matter to be explored, our growth is dependent, in large part, on our ability to develop and then implement the skills that are required.
Michael dissects the idea of what is skill? What does skill liberate? What are its boundaries?
Michael works with audiences to identify what our preconceptions, limitations, and fears are as we undertake creative processes. We are committed to honesty in our process of learning, risk is inescapable.
Skill, Risk, Focus, Journey
Before we make the leap into the unknown, we must come to terms with our self-imposed perceptual frames. All of our well-intentioned efforts become labored and unsatisfying unless we can reveal, clearly define, and then embrace our own personal sense of risk.
How we choose what is essential in any given learning situation is determined by the level of our focus. It is the first step in the journey towards realizing the freedom and joy of an expanding awareness.
Creativity starts with the desire to question, the courage to play, and a belief in the unknown.
Michael weaves his innovative and award-winning routines into the show to provide examples of his own journey and creative process. Michael also asks the audience to participate in skill based activities from their seats to convey the challenges he encounters on his creative journey.
Creativity
“Michael opened doors in my mind that I never even knew existed.” – Workshop Participant
“We spend our entire lives learning. To accomplish much of this we must acquire new skills. Whatever the subject matter to be explored, our growth is dependent, in large part, on our ability to develop and then implement the skills that are required. What is skill and what does it liberate? What are its boundaries?
When we are committed to honesty in our process of learning, risk is inescapable. Before we make the leap into the unknown, we must come to terms with our self-imposed preconceptions, limitations, and fears. All of our well-intentioned efforts become labored and unsatisfying unless we can reveal, clearly define, and then embrace our own personal sense of risk.
How we choose what is essential in any given learning situation is determined by the level of our focus. It is the first step in the journey towards realizing the freedom and joy of an expanding awareness.
Creativity starts with the desire to question, the courage to play, and a belief in the unknown.”
~ Michael Moschen.
Michael Moschen is a MacArthur Fellow and has lectured at: NCTM, AIGA, Intl. Design Conference, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, College of Design and numerous other universities.
Michael Moschen
The magic of light and movement has never before been combined as it is in the world of Michael Moschen. Considered unequaled in the world of juggling, Michael has transcended object manipulation from a novelty to an art form. The undisputed inventor of contact juggling, Moschen uses his body and his Olympian skill to make objects float. Unencumbered by gravity, seemingly defying the laws of physics. The only variety artist ever to receive a MacArthur Genius Grant, Michael Moschen is the kind of performer that comes around once in a lifetime.
In the Jim Henson film Labyrinth, Mr. Moschen (as David Bowie’s arms) creates one of the most memorable scenes in film history, where crystal balls dance across his hands. A visual so remarkable most viewers thought it was a complicated special effect. It is this remarkable artistry that Michael brings to his one-man show. A show so captivating, so universal, that no matter age nor ethnicity, audiences the world over will never forget the illusion-like juggling of Michael Moschen.
“In Mr. Moschen’s hands, juggling becomes a balletic art… (he) elevates a minor theatrical art to visionary heights.”
– New York Times
“I wonder if we shall see anything more beautiful than what Michael Moschen achieves with a ball of glass.”
– The London Times
“Michael Moschen is a juggler, a kind of dancer-physicist – someone who can bend and twist the visible world out of the norm through the sheer grace of his own movements.”
– San Francisco Examiner
“Michael Moschen’s performance is exhilarating, virtuoso entertainment… he gamely makes you privy to the secrets of the universe…”
– The Village Voice
“He doesn’t do anything the easy way. His opening, called Light(excerpts) is one of the most magical things to be seen on stage.”
– The Denver Post
“Moschen walks a fine line between entertainment and high art.”
– The Boston Globe
