Concept: Claire Cunningham

Former tanzhaus nrw Factory Artist Claire Cunningham is a genre-crossing artist and performer, mainly residing in Glasgow. She is an internationally renowned artist with a disability, and her work has been marked by the use and abuse of her crutches, by the handling of her own physical form and by the conscious rejection of traditional dance techniques, as developed for non-disabled bodies. As a choreographer, she is also interested in lived-in experiences with disability as well as in the effects on social concepts of knowledge transfer, value and independence. In all of this, she always regards her art as activism, too.
With the “Choreography of Care” concept, Claire Cunningham asks how “care” – taking care of oneself as well as others – may reflect on the artwork as a mode of operation, when a mindful situation is created in artistic collaboration, in research, during the rehearsal process, regarding barriers, as well as for the audience. The symposium, expressly produced for everyone who is interested, researches and deepens this concept on the basis of numerous artistic works, especially employing Claire Cunningham’s production “Thank You Very Much” that was created exclusively with and by performers with disability. What kind of art emerges when we remain mindful in the creation process and leave space for needs? How can we form accessibility during the rehearsal process, and how does a production venue integrate concepts such as “Crip Time” into institutional process? How do we identify power dynamics or consent, and where does this impact a mindful encounter with the audience? How can we be careful yet take adventurous artistic decisions?
The symposium invites its audience to participate in a debate, in workshops, panel discussions, inputs, film projections, installations and one-on-one talks, while it is also carried by numerous accomplices, among them artist and dramaturge Luke Pell, feminist and rabbi Julia Watts-Belser and artists Jo Bannon and Alessandro Schiattarella.