Status Lab 2026-27

Lyn Bentschik (CH) is a queer, crip and neurodivergent Swiss multimedia artist with a background in dance, choreography and long durational performance art.  Lyn holds an MA in Choreography from ZHdK Zürich and a BA in Contemporary Dance Performance from Uniarts Stockholm, and has further trained in long durational performance art at the Marina Abramović Institute. 

Their work has been recognized with the Dance Prize by the City of Zürich (2020), the PREMIO Newcomer Prize for the production Transreal Spaces (2021), and the Förderpreis (Grant Award) by the City of Winterthur (2024). From 2025 to 2026, they are an Associated Artist with Tanzplan Ost and and are currently developing several works exploring the theme of chronic pain. They live in Winterthur with their family. 

Declan Whitaker (CH) is a dancer and choreographer based in Basel. His work often deals with aesthetic conventions and the border between fantasy and reality. Most recently he premiered Away with the Faeries at Kaserne Basel, a work which reimagined Declan's history with Irish Dance through the figure of the Fairy. His work has also been shown at Tanzhaus Zürich, PACT Zollverein, The Place and Kunsthal Charlottenborg amongst others. In 2019 Declan was part of dance WEB at Impulstanz and in 2026, part of ATLAS. 

As a member of the collective The Field, Declan has performed in works by Meg Stuart, Simone Aughterlony, Isabel Lewis and Ofelia Jarl Ortega. Declan also regularly collaborates with Frédéric Gies and has performed in works by Martin Forsberg and Martina Sofie Wildberger. He holds an MA from The Place and has completed other artistic education courses at UniArts, Stockholm. 

Felix Mufti (UK) is a Scouse writer, performer and socially engaged artist from Liverpool. Working across theatre, film and participatory practice, their work centres working class lives, queer experiences and community storytelling. Their work includes the BFI x Film Hub North funded short film Lonelier Than Love, in which they also star. The film premiered at BFI Flare and explores cycles of addiction. 

They are currently developing Goths, Mings and Scruffs, an Arts Council England funded book project exploring youth homelessness and marginalised youth cultures, alongside a programme of creative workshops co-created with young people directly affected by these issues.

Sarah Blanc (UK) is an Irish choreographer, performer and director based in London, and Artistic Director of Moxie Brawl, a spicy inclusive dance theatre company making work that your mum would love. Her practice spans choreography, theatre and humour, often exploring class, identity, politics and lived experience. Her work includes Punk Alley, My Feminist Boner and History of Ireland, alongside choreography and/or direction for artists including Bryony Kimmings and Dan Daw. She is currently developing Council Estate Princess, a new solo exploring growing up ‘proddy’ on a Catholic council estate in Ireland, which she will develop during Status Lab.  

Jack Reardon (IRL) is a multi-disciplinary artist working in theatre and film, with a particular focus on community engagement. His work engages with community groups and organisations through interviews and workshops attempting to find the accidental poetry in every day language. Jack sculpts worlds and characters inspired by his research looking to see communities we think we know but rarely hear.

Jack’s theatre credits include 1984 (Hackney Town Hall), Dear Tottenham (Lyceum Theatre West End), From Out the Land (ART2023 Open Call Recipient), Hunchback of Notre Dame (In the Open/Faoin Spéir recipient), PUCKED by Cathal Ryan (National tour). Jack was artist in residence with Clonmel Junction Arts Festival (2019-2024) and has recently developed work at the Bush Theatre and Young Vic Theatre in London.  

Joan Somers Donnelly (IRL) is a Dublin-based artist with a collaborative performance practice. They are primarily concerned with examining existing social structures and creating not-yet-existing ones, using live situations as testing grounds for experiments in different ways of relating. Much of Joan’s work in recent years has focused on the creation of frameworks for exchange and collaboration, such as the group improvisation practice messing, the platform for experiments in one-on-one collaboration You and Me, an Anger Club, and a practice-sharing space for women and genderqueer artists called In practice(s).

Their most recent project was the improvisation-based co-creation project when the world shifts, in collaboration with people living with brain injury and a multidisciplinary artistic team, in partnership with Headway Ireland. Joan’s current focus is on building a community of improvisation practice that supports a diverse range of movers and makers to explore their own idio-aesthetics, develop their performance practices and contribute to co-creative projects.