UArts Philadelphia (USA)

Critical Bodies: borders|ACCESS|care

A shift in paradigm is currently in process, according to Paul B. Preciado, towards a non-binary epistemology. An epistemology where oppositions that structure hierarchies of values in post-industrial societies – body vs. mind, masculine vs feminine, productive vs unproductive, abled vs disabled - are challenged by global movements of resistance. Trans-bodies, subaltern bodies, migrant bodies …

What are body experiences of being in transition? Re-alignments in age, gender, expressions of sexuality? What are practices of training and un-training?

Geopolitical borders are crucial in our world, and stand as strict material and political limits that many bodies transgress for survival. Other borders, although less material, shape our lives and actions. Aesthetic borders and formations of art. Social differences. City neighborhoods. Academic disciplines. Conceptual categories. A nagging sense of belonging or not being part of... Feeling conformity or feeling strange. Our moves continuously shape and extend the limits of borders, shaping and un-shaping them, twisting their lines, blurring form.

Access, Care; Learning, Study. What do we need to access shared spaces of learning and un-knowing? Crafting common spaces through discourse and listening, moving and un-moving. Orienting towards difference; a discourse of criticality and care. Political renderings of need and desire made manifest through interaction and change. How do we constitute a commons that cares towards our variety?

During this symposium, we will explore what practices of dance and art, activist actions or researches are supporting, embodying, or resisting aspects of this paradigm. 

Thomas F. DeFrantz & Isabel Ginot