MIR – a love story uses the conditions and experiences aboard
the space station MIR as an allegory for love. Like an astronaut,
the lover endures miscommunication, dependencies and the
vibrant but fragile energy; unstable and imperfect, they
experience sleeplessness, disorientation, and loss of gravity.
The lover is dependent on an undependable central command -
the other. Today one of the few remaining luxuries is devotion
to an original cause as in the Soviet’s MIR – even its
malfunctions. The Mission begins with discovery, goes on with
subsistence and ends in a nostalgic caricature. Resolute
survival reinforces what the lover knows witout any further
truth. Love as stubborn persistence. Love as the mission to
rediscover what the goal of the mission was.
The MIR space station is the culmination of the Russian space
program’s effort to endure human presence in space. When
asked about his daily life, a Russian cosmonaut explained:
‘I survive. This is my full time job, and I consider myself
successful’. MIR’s main purpose is survival and heroism is no
longer based on conquest but on endurance and persistence.
In ‘MIR a Love Story #3: Endurance’ a cast of 5 dancers, a
musician and 4 elderly ladies cohabitate in space.