#yodo – you only die once (GER) 2024-2025
#yodo – you only die once is a project about dying, death, grief, and the politics of care – topics that are often pushed to the margins in European/Western contexts. Initially, #yodo consisted of three artists, but is now run solely by Michi Maxi Schulz as an ongoing artistic research and participatory performance project.
Rooted in embodied practice, community-based formats, and the everyday realities ofcare work, Michi develops immersive workshops, performative scores and intimate public encounters that invite participants to listen to their bodies, speak the unspeakable and rehearse tenderness, honesty, and mutual support.
#yodo is developed alongside ongoing dialogue with care workers activists, and participants, and continues to expand as a trans-local practice creating formats that can adapt to different communities and build temporary containers of trust where vulnerability becomes a collective strength and care is understood as cultural work
Contact: yodo@posteo.de
Taken residency at
HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts
HELLERAU acts as an interdisciplinary and international centre for dance, performance, music, theatre and media arts. It offers spaces for productions, festivals, concerts performances, exhibitions and discourse, cooperates with various regional cultural partners and is firmly connected internationally. An important part of HELLERAU is a residency program, which offers opportunities for artistic research, networks, production and encounters throughout the whole year.
UP
The purpose of UP is to develop and upskill the independent performing arts throughout Denmark. We define the free and independent performing arts as individuals, collectives and companies who work professionally with performance and primarily for and with independent performance groups, project supported companies, and lesser established theatres. Often without permanent access to a stage or a venue.
Kunstplaats Vonk
Kunstplaats Vonk is a studio and residency space for visual and performance arts in Hasselt and Genk, Belgium. At their 3 buildings they support artists with artistic feedback, an international network, presentation opportunities, studio-space and a financial contribution (for the residencies).
Who is #yodo? How did you find each other?
#yodo, which stands for “you only die once,” is a project exploring themes of dying, death, grief and care (DDGC) through movement and artistic expression.
Michaela Maxi Schulz initiated this project in 2017 to destigmatize these often-taboo subjects and create a contemporary way of talking about mortality. Over time, #yodo has grown to cultural research and shared commitment to addressing mortality and death in an open, accessible way.
Photo credit: Stephan Floss
What is your aim with Moving Identities?
With Moving Identities, we’re delving deeper into European identity, inclusion, and diversity, exploring how different societies and cultures engage with DDGC topics.
The goal is to create a research space where we can learn from local perspectives, blending these insights into a cross-cultural dialogue about death, grief and the collective fears surrounding them. Through participatory workshops and artistic expression, I hope to make death and grief feel less intimidating and to create a space for personal and cultural exchange. I want to bridge art and knowledge transfer, promoting understanding, acceptance and destigmatization of mortality-related issues.
Photo credit: Stephan Floss
What are you most excited about in this program ahead of you?
I’m most excited about the chance to work and learn in different European cities, each with its own traditions and perspectives around death and grief. The opportunity to collaborate with local artists and citizens in places like Dresden, Hasselt and Copenhagen allows me to understand DDGC from multiple cultural viewpoints and build connections that can continue after the residency.
I’m looking forward to developing new, international interventions and discovering ways to open up dialogue about these subjects, allowing participants to explore and share their thoughts on mortality and identity in a supportive, creative space.
Photo credit: Stephan Floss
