ARK/ CONNOR SCHUMACHER

PILOT PHYSICAL CULTURE

ARK - Connor Schumacher Foundation

Social Choreography, Participatory dance theatre

Consultancy, Dramaturgical advice

As a part of the development of ARK’s new production Pilot PC (Pilot Physical Culture), I joined in on a try-out and team-meeting to offer feedback on the show’s dramaturgy, particularly considering working with found footage. Insights offered by me guided final dramaturgical decisions regarding usage of texts and video, making Pilot PC a more inclusive experience. Pilot PC premiered in October 2021.

How do we practice being active in our culture? How do we change behavior in society? Move towards a new physical culture during the immersive experience Pilot PC. Connor Schumacher returns to the blackbox and invites you to start moving and build a dynamic Physical Culture together.

FIBER FOUNDATION

AUDIOVISUAL ART,

TECHNOLOGY, ECOLOGY

Fiber Foundation

Exhibition, Symposium, Concert, Artistic Lab

Consultancy, Copy-writing, Text-editing

Member on selection committee

In June 2021 Fiber presented Artistic Lab Reassemble: Part 1: Weaving With Worlds. The Lab (hybrid, 6 weeks) brought together a group of (15-20) international makers and researchers to exchange knowledge and develop new prototypes for artistic works.

Leading up to the lab I worked on (the copy for) its open call, initially to deepen FIBER’s understanding of who their audiences are and could be, but eventually really to help strengthen the foundation’s vision, mission and communications. Activities involved editing texts on e.g. diversity, access, inclusion as well as reviewing and advising on technical aspects and design choices of the open call.

I joined the selection committee to assess applications following the open call and I got involved with the Lab to host a workshop together with Deborah Morah in which I shared about the socio-political implications of depicting non-normative bodies/ identities using contemporary image production techniques.

FIBER is an Amsterdam based organisation, dedicated to present and initiate artistic productions at the intersection of audiovisual art, digital culture and electronic music. The team works year round with a vibrant network of artists, designers, technologists, researchers and organisations to reflect on the influence of technology and realise immersive artistic experiences across many creative disciplines. Special attention goes out to the support of up- and coming makers by connecting them with shared knowledge, organisations, networks and audiences.

HET HEM

CONTEMPORARY CENTRE

OF CULTURE

Het HEM, Spielraum + Raziyah Heath

Consultancy: Advice on curatorial concept and exhibition design

In developing a curatorial concept and design for an art exhibition around the question of how black culture moves through borders of both time and space, how can curators and cultural workers create and hold a space that is both healing for BIPOC and educational for white people? Can it? Is this an impossible juxtaposition in itself?

This is the main question I formulated for myself and team Spielraum + Raziyah Heath in working on advice on diversity and inclusion for their exhibition about the history of Detroit Techno and Chicago House (supported by Het HEM Contemporary Centre of Culture).

Informed by a strong belief that cultural organisations and curators can deepen and strengthen the relationships with their audiences (but also very much their relationship with themselves) by aspiring for transparency, criticality and accountability, my involvement with this project consisted of advising on curation, strategy, communication and exhibition design. After reviewing the team’s curatorial concept and operations, I articulated and shared feedback by a rapport connecting new critical questions to a set of target’s and to-do’s.

ARK - Connor Schumacher Foundation

Social Choreography, Participatory dance theatre

Consultancy, Dramaturgical advice

As a part of the development of ARK’s new production Pilot PC (Pilot Physical Culture), I joined in on a try-out and team-meeting to offer feedback on the show’s dramaturgy, particularly considering working with found footage. Insights offered by me guided final dramaturgical decisions regarding usage of texts and video, making Pilot PC a more inclusive experience. Pilot PC premiered in October 2021.

How do we practice being active in our culture? How do we change behavior in society? Move towards a new physical culture during the immersive experience Pilot PC. Connor Schumacher returns to the blackbox and invites you to start moving and build a dynamic Physical Culture together.

On Friday 7 June, as a part of the artist residency program Hamburger Community of Art, I presented the multidisciplinary event Act Natural 04 at Roodkapje in Rotterdam.

About Act Natural:

Act Natural is the spur of the moment reaction during a serious or unexpected event. To be told to act natural is to be told to adapt to a changing environment. How does one go about repositioning, reconfiguring oneself to an unstable form, perhaps a (social) code, an idea, a new technology, a presumed understanding?

What’s natural anyway?

Act Natural is a space where research, personal expression and creative production come together in an effort to make sense of the identity of the self, the visible and the invisible world. The fourth iteration of my new performance series Act Natural presented a full program with the presentation of new work, a sound bath, lectures, lecture performances and live electronic music. These various forms are brought together to both celebrate and critically reflect on the politics of perception, the politics of image production techniques and the implications of using old and new technologies in personal expression and self exploration.

As a part of this evening I presented 3 new works that were on show at Roodkapje for two weeks. These new works reflect on the process of learning about ancestry, health and personal traits through DNA testing.

Act Natural 04 - timetable

18:00 - 19:00 - 3D sound

Sound bath with Elisa Batti

Moderator: Hajo Doorn

19:30 - 21:00 | Discourse: Lectures and Q&A's

Speaker: Ruben Pater

Speaker: Dr. Nolen Gertz

Lecture performance: Jeisson Drenth

21:00 - 21:30 - Exhibition opening

21:30 - 23:00 - Art: Presentations, performances

Breathe, Move by Sabine van der Vooren

Encoding Experiences by Ruben van de Ven

The Things I Don't Like Doing (Live a/v) by Joop Schroën

23:00 - 00:00 - DJ

DJ set by Elisa Batti

Client:

Services:

ARK - Connor Schumacher Foundation

Social Choreography, Participatory dance theatre

Consultancy, Dramaturgical advice

As a part of the development of ARK’s new production Pilot PC (Pilot Physical Culture), I joined in on a try-out and team-meeting to offer feedback on the show’s dramaturgy, particularly considering working with found footage. Insights offered by me guided final dramaturgical decisions regarding usage of texts and video, making Pilot PC a more inclusive experience. Pilot PC premiered in October 2021.

About:

How do we practice being active in our culture? How do we change behavior in society? Move towards a new physical culture during the immersive experience Pilot PC. Connor Schumacher returns to the blackbox and invites you to start moving and build a dynamic Physical Culture together.

Client:

Services:

Fiber Foundation

Exhibition, Symposium, Concert, Artistic Lab

Consultancy, Copy-writing, Text-editing

Member on selection committee

In June 2021 Fiber presented Artistic Lab Reassemble: Part 1: Weaving With Worlds. The Lab (hybrid, 6 weeks) brought together a group of (15-20) international makers and researchers to exchange knowledge and develop new prototypes for artistic works.

Leading up to the lab I worked on (the copy for) its open call, initially to deepen FIBER’s understanding of who their audiences are and could be, but eventually really to help strengthen the foundation’s vision, mission and communications. Activities involved editing texts on e.g. diversity, access, inclusion as well as reviewing and advising on technical aspects and design choices of the open call.

I joined the selection committee to assess applications following the open call and I got involved with the Lab to host a workshop together with Deborah Morah in which I shared about the socio-political implications of depicting non-normative bodies/ identities using contemporary image production techniques.

About:

FIBER is an Amsterdam based organisation, dedicated to present and initiate artistic productions at the intersection of audiovisual art, digital culture and electronic music. The team works year round with a vibrant network of artists, designers, technologists, researchers and organisations to reflect on the influence of technology and realise immersive artistic experiences across many creative disciplines. Special attention goes out to the support of up- and coming makers by connecting them with shared knowledge, organisations, networks and audiences.

Client:

Services:

Het HEM, Spielraum + Raziyah Heath

Consultancy: Advice on curatorial concept and exhibition design

In developing a curatorial concept and design for an art exhibition around the question of how black culture moves through borders of both time and space, how can curators and cultural workers create and hold a space that is both healing for BIPOC and educational for white people? Can it? Is this an impossible juxtaposition in itself?

This is the main question I formulated for myself and team Spielraum + Raziyah Heath in working on advice on diversity and inclusion for their exhibition about the history of Detroit Techno and Chicago House (supported by Het HEM Contemporary Centre of Culture).

Informed by a strong belief that cultural organisations and curators can deepen and strengthen the relationships with their audiences (but also very much their relationship with themselves) by aspiring for transparency, criticality and accountability, my involvement with this project consisted of advising on curation, strategy, communication and exhibition design. After reviewing the team’s curatorial concept and operations, I articulated and shared feedback by a rapport connecting new critical questions to a set of target’s and to-do’s.