abonneer

#160

15.03.2020

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14.05.2020

Nieuwsbrief

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Living skill at work

In order to analyse the concepts ‘skill’, ‘artistry’ and ‘virtuosity’ within the performing arts, I need to unpack their meanings. If they imply spending a longer time with a practice or task and formalising it (and oneself) within a given institutional framework, then the work spent immediately becomes labour, recognised as part of an economical system to which the art world belongs. Moreover the work gains a certain value. But the transition from ‘any work’, to a valuable skill isn’t that clear – the distinction between ‘work’ and ‘labour’ in the context of art is tricky. While work can be understood as an uncountable effort, labour is the work spent on a specific task, often including monetary exchange: a salary. Artists are seldom paid for their labour, but rather for the artwork produced, meaning that the (uncountable) work spent when producing this artwork resides in a conflictual gap between labour and work. When it comes to performance and dance, the living labour often equals the live work, further blurring the economic lines of contemporary production. Virtuosity must be understood through this gap, which with this essay, I will try to unfold.

Frida Sandström

article 18.09.2019

Nieuwsbrief

Self Life Drawing – Eunkyung Jeong

The political self of beauty

South Korean artist Eunkyung Jeong’s interdisciplinary work at TAZ#2019 recalls the structure versus agency debate in social sciences—whether we are the product or disruptor of the society we grew up and live in. But by yoking elements and strategies not immediately associable with one another (such as a flashlight, a basement, drawings and personal family stories) she effects agency in relation to one’s own place in cultural arrangements which frame one’s choices and opportunities. This results in a refreshing and empowering artistic contribution to the debate.

Rathsaran Sireekan

review 13.08.2019

Somnia – P.A.R.T.S. / Anne Teresa & Jolente De Keersmaeker

Engaging choreography in a green discourse

Anyone associating ‘De Keersmaeker’ and P.A.R.T.S. mainly with ‘dance’ is surprised by the fact that over three quarters of the ‘choreography’ and performance informing Somnia pivots on the narratives adapted from William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595/96) and Johannes Kepler’s Somnium (1608)—the former being much more recognizable in the show than the latter.

Rathsaran Sireekan

review 26.06.2019

Cutlass Spring – Dana Michel

“You have to sit on the side of the stage. You’ll see that when you enter you have the option of sitting on the left or the right. In front of or behind the stage. Sit on the left or the right”, a friend cautioned as we separated and I made my way to Dana Michel’s performance Cutlass Spring. Upon entering the black box the audience must choose which perspective and subsequently which position they wish to occupy for the duration of this piece. This introductory question is one of many which Michel, a choreographer and live artist, asks us to consider.

Isaiah Lopaz

review 11.06.2019

A call for transparancy

To whom it may concern

In a common statement, 275 artists and cultural workers share their view on the future of Kaaitheater: “We appeal to the board of Kaaitheater and the persons involved in the selection process for its new director to take into account the broader consequences their decision will have for the future of artistic life in Brussels and Flanders. (…) Our concern is especially directed to younger generations of artists who are at risk of starting in a cultural landscape which is no longer able to support and to nourish their trajectories.”

275 artists and cultural workers

open letter 04.06.2019