Performance Besides Itself. Infra- and Parastructures of a ContemporaryLivenessis part of the H13 Lower Austria Prize for Performance 2024.
With the kind support of EVN AG.
Performance thrives on the physical presence of its actors and the spatial conditions where it takes place. It is eminently context-bound and site-specific. In this way, performance always draws attention, directly or indirectly, to the framework of its presentation and the material and social infrastructures that enable (and limit) it.
The symposium Performance Besides Itself. Infra- and ParastructuresofaContemporaryLivenessexamines the dynamics between performance and its institutional-infrastructural contexts. How do performance and the institution relate to one another? To what degree does the institutional set conditions for performance and to what extent may performative practices, in turn, transform the working methods and infrastructures of art institutions in the long run?
Other than usual, this two-day symposium pursues a praxis-oriented approach. In the course of panel discussions, artist-led workshops and presentations it assembles theorists, curators and artists as well as experts from the fields of production and artistic advocacy. This interdisciplinary interest is also reflected in the deliberate linking of experiences from the visual art as well as dance context, with the aim to reflect the lived experience of a growing number of professionals today.
Participants: Kathrin Bieligk (The City of Vienna’s Kuratorium for Theater, Dance and Performance), Claudia Bosse, Katrin Brehm (brut Wien), Sabeth Buchmann, Carola Dertnig (Art and Time / Performance, Academy of Fine arts Vienna), Katharina Ernst, Freda Fiala, Andreas Fleck (WUK performing arts), Vasilena Gankovska (IG Bildende Kunst), Mariella Greil-Möbius, Peter Kozek und Charlotta Ruth (Angewandte Performance Lab, APL), Annie Jael Kwan, Sara Lanner, Bettina Masuch (Festspielhaus St. Pölten), Lisa Moravec, Carolina Nöbauer (Tanzquartier Wien), Johannes Maile (Partner in Crime), Denise Palmieri, Amanda Piña, Clémentine Proby (Mudam Luxembourg), Frederike Sperling (Kunstraum Niederoesterreich), Marlies Surtmann, Daliah Touré, Frank Wasser
Curated by Freda Fiala and Frederike Sperling
The participation in the symposium is free for all and does not require prior registration. Of course, the individual formats on the program can be attended separately, too. Small refreshments are provided for everyone.
Friday, 06.12.2024
This day’s program takes place in English unless otherwise stated.
2pm
Welcome and introduction
2 .15 – 3.30pm
Rethinkingpoliticsofcare Workshop hosted by Denise Palmieri
This workshop explores how performance, curation, and the concept of care come together in art institutions. Through interactive discussions and creative activities, participants examine how care can be redefined through practical, action-oriented approaches within these spaces. How can curatorial and performative practices rethink and transform how institutions handle care, collaboration, and collectivity?
Participation in this workshop is free of charge. No registration required.
3.30 – 4.30pm
Impulse I: Frank Wasser: OnUnstatedConventions
Impulse II: Sara Lanner: Weaving Infrastructures. Choreographic scoresshapingbodies,materialsandfuturememories
4.30 – 5pm Coffee break
5 – 6.30pm
Panel I: De-skillingandre-skilling.Improvisingtheinstitution?
Andreas Fleck (WUK performing arts), Johannes Maile (Partner in Crime), Bettina Masuch (Festspielhaus St. Pölten), Clémentine Proby (Mudam Luxembourg), Amanda Piña, moderated by Frederike Sperling
Performance is becoming structurally anchored in art institutions –with new positions such as the ‘live’ or ‘performance curator’. In terms of infrastructure, however, very few institutions are actually designed to focus their programs on living, i.e. moving and sweating bodies: In many places, the lack of rehearsal rooms, backstage areas or showers, among other things, requires everyone to improvise. This panel explores the transformative potential of this moment: To what extent does performance expose vulnerabilities in the usually rigid structures of institutions? And what does this imply for the role of performance artists?
6.30 – 7.30pm
Artist Talk: Katharina Ernst in conversation with Clémentine Proby
The symposium takes place in the framework of the H13 Prize 2024, the only prize for performance in Austria at the intersection of visual arts. In this talk, this year’s winner, Katharina Ernst speaks with Clémentine Proby from Mudam Luxembourg about her interdisciplinary practice and her winning project metrics – a performance and exhibition in which the symposium is also physically embedded
Saturday, 07.12.2024
This day’s program takes place in English unless otherwise stated.
10 – 11.30am
Generousgesturesandsmallacts
Workshop hosted by Daliah Touré
The focus of this workshop is on deceleration. We explore physical approaches of entering and opening spaces which tend to require a separation from our bodies.
Participation in this workshop is free of charge. No registration required.
11.30 – 12am
Impulse III: AngewandtePerformanceLab
Mariella Greil-Möbius, Peter Kozek and Charlotta Ruth
12am – 12.45pm
Lunch Break: A small lunch is provided for everyone
12.45pm
Welcome and recap of day 1
1 – 2.30pm
Panel II: Materialities in question: Production as an embodied process
Sabeth Buchmann, Kathrin Bieligk, Vasilena Gankovska (IG Kultur), Katrin Brehm (brut Wien), moderated by Freda Fiala
In German
The art of recent decades has been profoundly influenced by conceptual approaches, often sidelining the question of an aesthetics that must inherently embody an ethics of production. In performance, this question takes on a profoundly different dimension, as the work
is directly and inextricably linked to the artist body. Within the context of ‘infrastructural critique’, this panel will discuss infrastructure as curatorial practice in relation to strategies and reflections on funding systems and fair pay.
2.30 – 3pm
Impulse IV: Claudia Bosse: translocalandlocalinfrastructureswith/in landscapesandinstitutions
3 – 3.30pm
Coffee break
3.30 – 4pm
Impulse V: Annie Jael Kwan in conversation with Freda Fiala: The centeristhemarginofthemargin.Themarginofthemarginisthe center.
4 – 5.30pm
Panel III: Practicesofarchivingandparticipating
Annie Jael Kwan, Carola Dertnig, Carolina Nöbauer (Tanzquartier Wien), Marlies Surtmann, moderated by Lisa Moravec
This panel explores horizontal approaches in archiving and participation, and examines the logics of attention that guide related (para-)institutional practices. Emphasizing alternative and queered archives, the discussion will highlight decentralizing strategies that challenge linear and hierarchical models of production and documentation, taking into account insights from performance activism, practice, teaching, and curation.
5.30 – 6.30pm
Lottery, moderated by Frank Wasser
To round up the symposium everyone is invited to contribute (anonymous) questions, comments, critique or unfinished thoughts that shall be discussed collectively.