Mammalian Droppings
What is Mammalian Droppings?
Mammalian Droppings is an international experiment in the art and science of process creation and touring, colliding multiple artist cohorts to create a series of projects in cities around the world. This initiative cultivates an ongoing international ensemble of young emerging artists, fostering a sustainable and socially-engaged production model while nurturing the next generation of socially-engaged artists.
How it Works.
First, each presenting partner will select a local group of emerging artists to undertake a research-intensive, culminating in a presentation of Adrift, a pitch session of multiple small-scale socially-engaged performance ideas.
At the next phase, the presenting partner and their ensemble will support the realization of a performance conceived in another city, led by that city’s delegates. In turn, representatives from each ensemble travel to do that very same thing elsewhere.
Mammalian Droppings regularly folds in new presenting partners, who typically join for 18 months, with 1-2 local performance interventions, and one touring opportunity.
The result: an evolving, cross-pollinating network of collaborations between presenters and artists, fostering a multitude of international relationships and cultural exchange in an environmentally responsible way. By shifting the focus of creation from individual artists to a network of presenters, community members and emerging artists, Mammalian Droppings offers entirely new methods for forming deep, collaborative relationships across cultures and continents.
Droppings in Action.
Since August 2024, we’ve conceived 273 project ideas with 58 local emerging artists, across 7 cohorts and 5 countries.
Snorre’s Story Hour
In Latvia, hosted by Homo Novus, we brought together 16 local artists for Adrift on Avotu Street. We met Snorre K. Svensson, who runs the House of Languages and, amazingly, reads 200 books at a time. In response to this beautiful insanity, we conceived Snorre’s Story Hour, selected by Canadian presenter, Recto-Verso, and realized by their Quebecois cohort and two of the Riga artists.
Many, Many Ways
In Québec, hosted by Recto-Verso, 19 local artists joined us for Adrift. We met Catherine Baril, who navigates her way around the city without a car, mostly by foot. She takes her time on her routes, noticing what others often look when they rush from place to place. Inspired by her curiosity and slow city-wandering, we conceived Many, Many Ways, selected by Italian presenter, BASE, and realized by their Milan cohort and two of the Québec City artists.
Same Time Train
In Milan, hosted by BASE, we first brought together 19 local artists for Adrift. Same Time Train was conceived from a conversation with a young poet named Paolo that we met in Milan. The concept travelled to Berlin where it was developed alongside the Milan youth and 10 young people from Berlin, with Humboldt Forum and Junges Tanzhaus Berlin. It folded in with stories from the Berlin teens, who ride Berlin’s trains without a fixed destination.
If you’re more of a visual learner, we’ve squeezed this complex operation into a 90 second explanatory video below:
What’s Next?
Following the successful presentations of Adrift in Riga (Latvia), Québec City, (Canada), Trondheim (Norway), Milan (Italy), and Markham (Canada) and the realization of two performance ideas, we’re eager to continue cross-pollinating.
If you’re interested in taking part in our global seed exchange for artistic ideas, get in touch!
In 2026, Mammalian Droppings will expand to Australia, Japan, and other partners in Canada (to be announced).
To find out when and where our next dropping is, sign up to our eNews for updates.
Special thanks to our previous partners: Recto Verso (Canada), BASE (Italy), Homo Novus (Latvia), and Rosendal Teater (Norway).
Mammalian Droppings is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts’ Strategic Innovation Fund: Cultivate grant.
