The Struggling Artist: Survival Lessons from Austin Local Artists

Being a struggling artist in Austin is not easy, as I was informed by fellow local artists during my stay at MOHA as an artist in residence. I will share my conclusions on how to survive in the art world and life in general when the economy is not on your side. First rule: eat carbs.

Mihai Lukács (b. 1980, Cluj-Napoca) is an artist-researcher, theatre director, and founder of the Dialectic Center in Bucharest. His current artistic practice addresses local counter-histories, the affective research of archives, and memory without witnesses.

Mihai Lukács

Mihai Lukács is a researcher, theatre director, transmedia artist, and cultural manager based in Bucharest. He is also president of the Dialectic Center and holds a PhD in comparative gender studies from the Central European University with a thesis on modernist hysterical theatre directors. His latest artistic practices talk about local counter-histories and the affective research of archives, faith and exclusion, housing policies, the relationship between Roma and non-Roma, public humiliation, and sexual liberation.

Mihai obtained the “Holocaust in Romania” research grant (Elie Wiesel Institute for Holocaust Research in Romania, Bucharest 2019-2022), the “Visegrad” research grant (Open Society Archives, Budapest 2019), the Artist in Residence Grant (CMBB Para Site, Hong Kong 2018), the “500 years of Roma slavery” research grant (Open Society Foundation, Bucharest 2017) and the Museum Quartier Artist in Residence Grant (Transit / Quartier 21, Vienna 2013). The “Kali Tras / Black Fear” theatre performance received the Award for Social Inclusion and Intercultural Dialogue by the National Cultural Fund 2018. Additionally, “MOTHER” performance received the “Cătălina Buzoianu” Award at the Piatra Neamț Post-Present Theatre Festival 2021.

https://lukacsmi.wordpress.com/https://linktr.ee/mihai.lukacs