mike durkin (he/him/y’all) is a large-bodied multidisciplinary social practice performance artist residing in Philadelphia and New York City.  the intersection between art and the everyday guides mike (lowercase to de-center himself for the process).  He has created site-responsive social practice productions exploring houselessness, food access, place, and gentrification.  Upcoming projects will be held at Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, and Reed College.  mike’s work has been presented with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center at the University of Houston, the Performance Studies program at Texas A&M University, with the College of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences at the University of Central Arkansas, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Brandywine River Museum, Barnes Foundation, Mt. Moriah Cemetery, the Life Do Grow Farm, and in parks, churches, and fields, diners, virtually, and most recently with Mural Arts on a collaborative quilt making project with the Color Me Back Same-Day work program.  mike has held residencies with Revolve Art Gallery in Asheville, NC, Space at Ryder Farm, Drop Forge and Tool, the Hambidge Arts Center in Rabun Gap, GA, and the Greenhouse Lab with The Orchard Project.  mike is part of the 2017 MFA in Devised Performance class with Pig Iron Theatre Company/University of the Arts.

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mike's work is developed and presented amongst communities in site-responsive manners. His work combines a variety of styles and mediums to embrace time, place, and the Americana. He aims to bring dissimilar bodies together to challenge and dismantle hate and stigmas. The styles he participates in include: theatre, participatory walk, dance, installation, interactive public happenings, photography, video, storytelling, and oral history. His work can be either performed solo, or as a creator/facilitator for distinct populations of nontraditional performers.