Thoughts on Mobius’ “One Minute Solos” at The Lilypad
In the interest of total transparency, I must admit that I am writing this as a performance art skeptic. I love performance art in theory, and it’s one of my favorite topics to teach students as they broaden their definition of what “art” is, and yet I often feel as though there is an opaqueness to most performance art that I cannot surpass. Performance art can sometimes be a parody of itself; we expect to be put-off, to be looking from the outside-in as we struggle to comprehend the deep, profoundly conceptual meaning of the performance we’re witnessing (surely there has to be one, right?).
With that being said, last Saturday I found myself miraculously converted to a performance art appreciator with the “One Minute Solos” event by Mobius held at The Lilypad in Cambridge. The premise of the event is exactly what it sounds like: a series of performers take the stage for one-minute performances. The format is effective for both audiences and performers alike. It allows for newer performers to try the medium with approachable stakes, it creatively forces seasoned artists to distill their ideas down to 60 seconds, and it presents audiences with a tasting menu of different ideas, approaches, and concepts within performance art. And worst case scenario, if you hate a performance, it’ll be over quickly.
In fact, the speed of the event helped create an energetic, joyous atmosphere. Performers transitioned between sets quickly and the lineup was an ever-changing combination of movement, endurance, humor, and the occasional self-important poetic narration. The quickness of the event allowed for each performer to perform twice, which presented lovely opportunities for iteration and troubleshooting that were engaging to see as an audience member. The pieces that I found to be most effective had a clear concept that was easy to engage with, were well-rehearsed, and didn’t take themselves too seriously (the winner of the night for me and my friends was a performer who danced and played a French horn in a consideration of movement, breath, and a questioning of what we expect performance to be). It is perhaps embarrassing to admit, but I genuinely forgot that performance art could be fun, and what’s more, even funny. Given the laughter in the audience throughout the night, I think many of us appreciated the reminder.
For those wondering who the intended audience is for such an event, the answer is almost everyone. The Lilypad struggled to accommodate the sheer number of people who attended, and organizers had to turn some folks away at the door due to fire safety. Mobius has a long history of creating experimental and interactive art in unexpected venues throughout Boston, and Saturday’s event showed that the hunger for this type of art is as strong as ever both in the audience turnout and the number of young performers who participated. Perhaps my biggest takeaway from the event was how we need more events and spaces like this in Boston. We are privileged to have access to large institutions like the MFA and the ICA, but we need emerging, scrappy, and sometimes-clumsy art alongside professional and polished exhibitions. There’s a real joy and freedom in the immediacy of the DIY ethos of “One Minute Solos,” and if Boston is going to become a city for artists, for all artists, we’re going to need more of that joy in the future.
“One Minute Solos” was held at The Lilypad in Cambridge, MA on Saturday, January 10, 2026. For more information about Mobius, visit their website at https://www.mobius.org/