DIY Nights - "Self-tape for self-love"

About the Night:

“Self-tape for a Self-love” is a darkly comedic performance deconstructing the audition ritual. In an industry of gatekeeping, the self-tape is a solitary act of labor: a performer alone with a ring light, performing for an absent judge. Dino Desica performs live while being projected in real time, caught between his physical body and a mediated image.

Through repetition and audience interaction, rehearsal and filming collapse into a state of productive interference. The audience becomes part of the apparatus, shaping the attempt to succeed. By merging personal truth with fictional walls, the work exposes a state where paranoia becomes a monster used to escape the present.

The recording device frames a reality where portraying and being are inseparable. This creates a tragicomic struggle for presence and a provision of failure.

The cycle breaks only in the final True Scene, when recording stops and the performer remains alone, exposed.

About the Artist:

Dino Desica is a long-term performance project by Italian artist Norman Mine. Developed across live performance and moving image, the work uses character to explore the unstable boundary between acting and being. Drawing on the legacy of Italian Neorealism, the project foregrounds failure, improvisation, and the construction of identity within systems of visibility. Recent iterations examine the psychological toll of digital labor and the ritualised isolation of the performer.

Accessibility:

Please note, we are on the second floor of a warehouse building, accessed by a staircase only. We regret that we cannot currently adequately support wheelchair users and those for whom stairs are a barrier.

We are committed to removing other barriers to access. If you would like to talk to us about your access needs, please contact: frances@chisenhaledancespace.co.uk. Read more about our commitments to anti-ableism as part of our Artist Community Culture Document

About DIY Nights:

DIY Nights are CDS’s performance programme created in the spirit of grassroots, low stakes performance making and sharing.

Anyone can apply to run a DIY Night, and CDS programmes them on a rolling basis for artists looking for a way to try out new ideas with low financial risk.

If you are interested in running your own night, you can learn more and apply here.