COMMUNITY MATTERS

All catering is included in the ticket price.

Artistic directors of Hägerstens Kulturhus, Elof Hellström and Sebastian Dahlqvist have reimagined the concept of the medborgarhus — the Nordic tradition of the citizens’ or community centres. Drawing inspiration from the social and cultural practices of earlier decades, they explore what such a space can mean today. How can we build and sustain local communities in a late-capitalist Nordic context? What forms of participation, shared ownership, and collective creativity become possible when we revisit and renew this model of community engagement?

In their presentation they depart from the long-term research “1000 Kulturhus” which includes a one-year post-master program at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, several symposiums, radio programs, exhibitions and publications. By examining the histories and current conditions of People’s Houses, community centres and cultural houses, the presentation explores the artistic and organizational strategies used in order to democratize both art, artistic production and everyday life. What might a cultural house that responds to the social, political and technological conditions of today look like.

All catering is included in the ticket price.

What defines an art practice that seeks to merge with everyday life rather than exist apart from it? What kinds of spaces does such art inhabit, and how are those spaces conceived? Who forms its audience, and who takes part in its creation? How can it endure and remain steadfast in resisting a system that appears to discourage, rather than support, this approach?

These are the kinds of questions that have guided Sankar Venkateswaran and Satoko Tsurudome as they envisioned and built an independent theatre that they now run “at the end of the world,” as they describe it. Sahayande Theatre means “Theatre of Western Ghats” and is located on the border between the two Indian states Tamenaru and Kerela, in a jungle area called Attapaddi. Together with the architect Kavita Srinivasan they will do a performance lecture on their community theatre and their theatre practice.

All catering is included in the ticket price.

The performance “Zona Franca” forms the artistic and thematic starting point for the entire symposium. We therefore recommend that you see the performance on either March 20 or March 21 to get the most out of the symposium. Please note: The tickets for the performance are not included in the symposium price and must be purchased separately.

All catering is included in the ticket price.

The American philosopher Todd May argues that social relations under neoliberalism tend to be reduced to the question of the benefits we derive from each other, as if co-creators’ or companies were commodities that could be bought or sold. In reality, artistic alliance and communities has a special kind of rhythm, a rhythm that can serve as a form of resistance against a society that imposes an instrumental market logic on relationships.

Stijn Van Opstal is co-artistic director of Toneelhuis in Antwerp (Belgium) and cofounder of the renowned theatre collective Olympique Dramatique. Together with the management duo at Betty Nansen, Elisa Kragerup and Eva Præstiin, they will discuss the potential of co-creation and strategies for making-with-others within the arts.

All catering is included in the ticket price.

I Have No Name, explores the relationship between technology and nature. In this work, El Conde de Torrefiel places the audience in a “natural”, open-air setting — an environment designed for the contemplation of a “subtitled” landscape. A LED screen augments the scene, displaying thoughts, questions, perspectives, and revelations. It gives language to what nature might say to humanity today. Here, the landscape itself becomes every element of the play: scenography, light, and sound — at once narrator and protagonist, making us aware of the surrounding nature we always are inevitably part of.

El Conde de Torrefiel is a internationally acclaimed theatre company working together with the aim of expanding the language of theatre. Since the COVID pandemic, the company has turned its focus towards the natural environment, using the landscape itself as both setting and backdrop.