Duncan Dance Research Centre and EDN (European Dance House Network) organize a 2 days Atelier
on Dance and Craft including working sessions, performative installations, collective and physical activities, conversations and lecture/performances.
The Duncan House in Athens is deeply engaged with the notion of craftsmanship, since it was built by the Duncan family in 1903, as a utopian eco-community embracing both craft and art practices (weaving, ceramics, sandal making, painting or poetry), united in an on-going dialogue with everyday life and the art of dance.
The EDN Atelier will re-establish a bond with this history through a careful, decisive ‘zoom in’ on the relation between craft and the performing arts, as well as the social and political connotations this relation can have today.
Craftmanship -the confrontation with raw material and its subsequent transformation – have been re-appraised in recent years, both in the artistic and the academic milieu.
The attention and concentration that labor involves, the resistance and unexpected aspects of matter, repetition and persistence, the ‘gesture’ as a minor action capable of producing things as well as producing change, the expanded sense of time experienced by craftsmen, all relate closely to the daily practice of the dancer, the musician, the artist.
Can the process of making concrete things bring personal re-adjustments in our ways of learning, working and exchanging?
How can this fusion between arts and crafts challenge, redirect and nourish artistic, curatorial, pedagogical and social practices?
EDN Atelier ZOOM IN! invites artists from dance and other performing arts, skilled workers, pedagogues and cultural professionals to “explore, observe and experience a range of materials, techniques and methods of craft” and to “share and reflect on the insights derived from craft”.
Attendance is free but, as places are limited, reservation is obligatory till April the 4th.
You can reserve your place by r by sending an e-mai to: ddrcathens@gmail.com including name, telephone number, short cv and your motivation for attending the EDN Atelier.
The Atelier is part of ‘Zoom In!’, a larger project investigating the notions of ‘craft’ and ‘micro-scale’ within the arts, socio-politics and education. During a two-year period, ‘Zoom In!’ will initiate, host and interconnect various small-scale projects that have the potential to bring insight to our thinking, taking action and being in our private and public contexts.
DRAFT SCHEDULE
ZOOM IN EDN ATELIER ATHENS
APRIL 12 – 13, 2019
April 12th – 1st Day
9h-10. 30 h: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY on the technique of 5 elements in Chinese martial arts, led by Ioanna Toumbakari
SHORT WELCOME
10h30-12.30h: PERFORMATIVE INSTALLATION A Cuatro Patas by Nyamnyam (Iñaki Alvarez and Ariadna Rodriguez) around the notion of the table as a device, context and space for action. ‘Before eating, build a table; before speaking, build a table; before celebrating, build a table; before dancing, build a table; to know each other, build a table’.
13 -14.30h: Lunch with unexpected surprises
14h45: LECTURE by Efi Kyprianidou: ‘Weaving as a cultural, political and artistic practice: The case of dance’.
15h30-18h30: WORKING SESSIONS with 3 different pairs (artist/craftsman) who share their research process. (From January to April 2019, 6 pairs (an artist – a craftsman) conducted a research residency in the frame of ZOOM IN! . During the Atelier they open their labs to the participants and share with them processes and outcomes. BE ready to be part of it!!!)
18h30-19h: GROUP DISCUSSION ‘Around the Table’ / Dialogue and conversation.
April 13th -2nd Day
9h-10h: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY on the technique of 5 elements in Chinese martial arts, led by Ioanna Toumbakari.
10h-13h: WORKING SESSIONS with 3 different pairs (artist/craftsman) who share their research process.
(From January to April 2019, 6 pairs (an artist – a craftsman) conducted a research residency in the frame of ZOOM IN! project. During the Atelier they open their labs to the participants and share with them processes and outcomes. BE ready to be part of it!!!
13h: Lunch with new surprises
14h30-15h30: LECTURE followed by DISCUSSION, by Moise Toure /An experience from “landscape after the train”, a choreographic workshop with young woodworkers in Annecy /France led to a performance.
15.30 – 16.30 LECTURE/PERFORMANCE by Salva Sanchiz : “Reflection and craft, theory and practice: zooming in and out”
16h30-18h: GROUP DISCUSSION with all the participants about the experiences and topics of the atelier, moderated by Guy Cools
18h-18h30: CLOSING
