Transversality Lab
June 2 | 5 PM
Judson Memorial Church
Dance can be considered the most international of all art forms in that it communicates nonverbally using a codification system based on the body and movement. Dance companies and dance communities are highly diverse - and yet, regional dance landscapes arise, each with very specific characteristics.
In the last century, Austrian dance, as one such regional landscape, had a strong influence on the development of Expressionist Dance and on Dance Theater. But only recently has Austrian dance reappeared on the world map of contemporary dance. It is refreshingly young in expression, reflective, exploratory, and highly performative. The current success of Austrian Contemporary Dance and performance in Europe has inspired ACFNY, Tanzquartier Wien, together with the Austrian Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, to enter into dialogue with artists and organizers in New York via a partnership with Movement Research. As a first step in this exchange program, an encounter between American and Austrian artists is planned for early June 2008 in conjunction with the Movement Research Festival. Next year, an American-Austrian dance and performance festival will take place in collaboration with several theaters in New York.
The curators of the Movement Research Festival (Milka Djordjevich, Chris Peck, Jeff Larson, and Anna Sperber) along with New York dance theorist Jenn Joy, have chosen several Austrian dance and performance groups to participate in this lab, out of a pool of 40 applicants, including: Austrian-Hungarian Company Two in One; visual artist and performer Julius Deutschbauer; the young Japanese-Austrian artist duo Matsune and Subal; and Frans Poelstra and Robert Steijn, two Dutch performers living in Vienna. Austrian cultural theorist Gerald Raunig devised the structure for this lab on the basis of his concept of transversality. These selected Austrian artists were then asked to choose colleagues in New York to participate in the transversality lab.
After a brief phase of encounter and artistic research, the lab will open to the public on June 2, 2008 in New York's historic Judson Memorial Church. The invited artists and artist groups will present their concepts and methodologies in an open, discursive format. The evening promises to be a fruitful and exciting opportunity for reflection, encounter, and exchange - the first step in developing an Austrian-American cultural dialogue focusing on dance, performance, and theory.
The Transversality Lab will take place on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 5 pm at Judson Memorial Church. Admission is free.
Judson Memorial Church is the core venue for the Movement Research Spring Festival 2008, which will take place from May 26 -June 8, 2008.
The Transversality Lab is a collaboration between ACFNY, Tanzquartier Wien, the Austrian Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture, and Movement Research.
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
www.movementresearch.org
