Keynote (Un)expected Relations // Jay Pather (ZA)

The first day of “Talk&Connect” sets the focus on reshaping the international and deals with questions of international and transnational collaborations. What does it mean to work internationally these days? How do we find cooperation partners beyond our existing networks and obvious connections, and how do we work together? Which voices and perspectives are present in our collaborations, which are not, and why is that? What does it mean for cooperation when we enter into connections beyond tried and tested structures?

Keynote Entangled Embodiment // Jay Pather

Jay Pather’s keynote with the title Entangled Embodiment as a starting point for the Talk & Connect theme (Un)expected Relations will focus on how African countries like many parts of the colonized world have encountered foreign cultures as part and parcel of colonial life. What were the forces that shaped these? How did these impact on the work of choreographers and performance artists? What were the gains and losses that were encountered? How do these lessons reflect on a world in need of international collaboration?

Jay Pather is a curator, choreographer and an academic. He is Professor at the University of Cape Town where he directs the Institute for Creative Arts. He curates the Infecting the City Public Art Festival, the ICA Live Art Festival and Spier Light Art in Cape Town and Afrovibes in several cities in the Netherlands. He was recently made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.