Kultursommer: Open Mic

Krõõt Juurak and Frans Poelstra – Open Mic

Open Mic is a performance where Krõõt Juurak and Frans Poelstra use the format that is commonly used in stand-up comedy where less-established comedians or even complete beginners practice performing comedy in front of an audience. Krõõt and Frans are both well- established performing artists but not comedians. They have both used various forms of humor in their work throughout their careers and in Open Mic they will tackle the humor-topic head-on and stage a performative competition where they take turns in front of the microphone trying to “out-perform” the other with jokes, stories and other weirdnesses plus experimental methods such as silence and/or boredom. The now luxurious possibility of a live audience is in our current times a topic worth cherishing too. With “Open Mic” Krõõt and Frans attempt to move towards a new world through jokes. The idea of making a work together arose already years back when Frans and Krõõt discovered their birthdays are almost on the same day (2nd and 3rd of July), they attended almost the same dance schools in Holland (The EDDC and the SNDO), are almost the same height (182 cm and 187 cm), and since Krõõt is often mistaken for a Dutch person, Krõõt and Frans could indeed be almost the same person. Not to mention that they both live in Vienna, seem to take a liking to silliness and personal and experimental matters in their performing art. So, in short the idea to collaborate was not really an idea, rather a fact.

Idea and performance: Krõõt Juurak and Frans Poelstra