Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera present the US-debut of their performance piece Magic Maids, a multi-disciplinary critique of the modern exploitation of women as domestic workers interpreted through the historical context of European witch-hunts. Expanding on their Opening Weekend performances, P.6 artists Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera will also offer a workshop for women and nonbinary people that explores ecofeminism, domestic and agricultural labor, and the journey of migrant women workers. 

Magic Maids by Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera is a production of Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in co-production with Frascati Producties (supported by Ammodo), Tanzquartier Wien, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Festival Theaterformen, DDD - Festival Dias da Dança, Kampnagel, Arsenic - Centre d’art scénique contemporian, La briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Points Communs - nouvelle scène nationale Cergy-Pontoise / Val d’Oise, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. Funded as part of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture. 

This project was supported with residences by Kaserne Basel, Puón Institute Philippines, Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka, Dance Nucleus in collaboration with Studio Plesungan as part of ARTEFACT Creative Residency, and Colomboscope Contemporary Art Festival 2024.

Performances take place on November 1 and 2 at 2:30pm. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Eisa Jocson is a contemporary choreographer and dancer. She exposes body politics in the service and entertainment industry as seen through the unique socioeconomic lens of the Philippines. She studies how the body moves and what conditions make it move, be it social mobility or movement out of the Philippines through migrant work. In all her creations—from pole to macho dancing to princess and zoo animals—capital is the driving force of movement pushing the indentured body into spatial geographies.

Jocson received a BFA from the University of the Philippines in 2008. Her work has toured extensively in major performing arts festivals, biennials, and institutions worldwide, including Biennale of Sydney (2024); Tate Modern, London, UK (2023); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea (2024 and 2020); Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2020); and Sharjah Biennial 14, UAE (2019); among others. Jocson is a recipient of the 2018 Cultural Centre of the Philippines 13 Artists Award, a Hugo Boss Asia Art Award (2019), a Seoul MediaCity Biennale SeMa-HANA Award (2021), and the Tabori International Award (2023).

Venuri Perera is a choreographer, performance artist, curator, and educator. Exploring the power dynamics of visibility and opacity, she attempts to disorient how we perceive the "other."  She subverts frameworks of existing rituals to create alternate dramaturgies. She works with found objects and is curious about space and place. Perera’s solo and collaborative works deal with violent nationalism, patriarchy, border rituals, colonial heritage, and class. They have been in festivals and biennales across Europe, South and East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa since 2010.  

Perera is a graduate of DAS (Arts) Theatre and has an MA in Clinical Psychology from Pune University, India. She has collaborated in multi-disciplinary performance projects locally and internationally since 2004. Perera was a member of the Chitrasena Dance Company and a founding member of The Packet Collective. She conceived and curated the programs of the Colombo Dance Platform at the Goethe-Institut (2016-20), and is committed to creating support networks for the independent dance scene in Sri Lanka.