Master Symposium – Stir it up: A two-day rehearsal on breathing as a methodology

Stir it up
A two-day rehearsal on breathing as a methodology

Two years ago, #covid19 turned the world upside down for some of us. For others, the world has always been twirling and flipping upside down violently for centuries. This contemporary collapse of the racial and gendered capitalism caused an ongoing mourning and ungrievable death. Fast forward, some of us are still catching our breath and gasping for air while facing the exposed endoskeleton of the world.

This two-day rehearsal (as workshop) hosted and facilities by Amal Alhaag with collaborator and friend Milone Reigman centralizes the way people use intimate stories and fabulation which emerge from (art), cultural and sonic practices to address the politics of breathing and imagination in societies that don’t care for racialized, marginalized people's imagination, dreams and wellbeing. We don’t all breathe the same air nor does breathing together rarely mean breathing the same. Whose oxygen is compromised?

Central to this gathering are concepts such as oral histories, cultural politics of listening and the ways orality shapes cultural thought and visceral imaginative tools. Together we will work, think, dance, imagine and raise questions at the edge of breath. Students, dropouts, autodidacts and everyone in between is invited to (un)learn artistic and cultural practices extractive relations to theory. Throughout the days, we will rehearse and work with the concept of notes, theorization and actions towards a collaborative, living and situational radio play.

** Please bring songs, poetry and notes that respond associatively to the workshop description.

Program
29 November
10:00-12:30
Introduction is a rehearsal
A playlist Lecture

29 November:
13:30-17:30
Rehearsal 1: unlearning theory
Screening: video works and discursive walk

30 November:
10:00-12:30
Rehearsal 2: Voicing refusal (exercises)

30 November:
13:30-17:30
Rehearsal 3: collective radio show

18:00-19:00
Stir It Up - A collective radio play

Bio
Amal Alhaag is an Amsterdam-based curator, researcher and dirty cultural worker who develops long-term experimental and research practice, public programs and projects. She likes to collaborate with people, initiatives and often works in and outside of institutions and public spaces to create, stage, compose impermanent settings for mutual aid, discomfort, dancing, listening, (un)learning and conversation.

Milone Reigman is a theater director, educator and artistic coordinator. She graduated in 2010 from the prestigious Director Program at the Amsterdam School for Performing Arts. Since her graduation she has directed plays for various theater companies such as Rotterdam Schouwburg, Bijlmerparktheater and theater festival de Parade. In 2013 she attended the Lincoln Center Theater Directors lab and attained a residency in London to experiment with performance and visual storytelling. She is currently a tutor at the  theater school in Amsterdam and artistic coordinator at Het Huis in Utrecht; a space for research and experimentation with performing arts.