SOTA@GARAGE. Mass vs. Multitude: Alternative Spaces

Date

Place

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

DESCRIPTION

SOTA is an annual intensive program in contemporary dance and performance, which this year is organized as part of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art public program.

SOTA was initiated last year by choreographer Dina Khuseyn in the frame of the Theater Institute, and is focused on a different topic every year. This year’s SOTA program is titled Mass vs. Multitude: Alternative Spaces and includes training, discussions, independent work, workshops with leading professionals from Russia and abroad, public events, and a contemporary dance and performance festival.

Over the course of the SOTA program, students will work in collaboration with experienced choreographers to create a performance. They will focus on the phenomena of mass social, theatrical, political, and performative practices, as well as modes and means of engagement with alternative spaces. The main area of interest will be directed toward the research of change in the perception of collectiveness and compatibility, as well as on today’s attitude toward mass actions—how does today’s idea of "together" differ from our perception of it several years ago? Using their bodies as instruments, unifying and separating at the same time, students will try to understand whether collective experience means the loss of individuality (and the rise of the "mass") or a new way of being together while still preserving singularity (the "multitude"). The question of how the space influences our collective experience will be another aspect of this work.

SOTA@GARAGE will be followed by a festival—presented to professionals and the broader public—of works created by the students during the laboratory, as well as other participatory performances dealing with this year's topic.


Open call

Students with experience in contemporary dance and performance and/or knowledge of contemporary art, music, and video art are welcome to apply. Participation is free, but limited to 15 students. To apply, candidates should please fill out the questionnaire and send their résumés to opencall@garagemca.org by February 18, 2016 at noon.

We received around 100 applications. During the auditions that took place in Garage Atrium on February 21 and 22 a group of 16 students was formed.


Organized by Dina Khuseyn, Founder of the SOTA educational program, and Anastasia Mityushina, Garage Curator of Public Programs.

ABOUT THE PARTNERS

Performative Practice Space is an independent interdisciplinary space initiated in 2016 by choreographer Dina Khuseyn and a group of artists with the purpose of developing performance art. It is a platform for the collaboration of different art professionals united by the desire to create a general space for exchange, education, and presentation. The space is located on the premises of the Perspektiva Center of Creative Initiatives

schedule

Monday, March 7 – Friday, April 15

Monday, March 7–Friday, April 15

Performative Practice Space, Garage

UNIT 2. Practice 

Dina Khuseyn 15 days. Bodywork and movement practice based on the theory unit.

Ideas for research: natural and energetic phenomena; social, political, immigrational movements; ceremonial actions; modern clubs and discos; trans, unison; movement of the body mass; mass culture; flash mobs; and other issues connected to the laboratory topic. Research possibilities of composition and dramaturgic dynamics as well as how structures change the message and effect of the work. Beginning preparations for the festival. 

Alexey Kohanov – 5 days. Contemporary choral composition practice.

Monday, March 28–Monday, April 11

 

Garage and Performative Practice Space

UNIT 3. Student's work. Stage 1. 

Individual work in accordance with a discussed scenario.
Students go through all the stages of creating a work, from project description to project presentation.

Monday, May 2–Wednesday, May 11

Garage and Performative Practice Space

UNIT 4. Student's work. Stage 2. 

20 sessions of four hours each over ten days.
During the second stage students will collaborate with their mentors. Based on an analysis of their work, students will be able to alter or redirect their artistic practice in order to express their ideas in a deeper and more distinct way.

Thursday, May 12 – Friday, May 27

Garage and Performative Practice Space

UNIT 5. Workshops 

During the workshops by Bojana Cvejić, Dina Khuseyn, and Sonya Levin, students will prepare their performances.
As part of Bojana Cvejić’s workshop, a public lecture and film screening will be held.


 

May 14, Saturday 14:00–16:00  Garage Auditorium

Notes for a Society of Performance. A lecture by Bojana Cvejić

The talk presents several theoretical stories about Homo performans and social choreography across knowledge work, museum cultures, and sports. Free admission.


May 14, Saturday 16:00–17:30  Garage Auditorium

Screening: Yugoslavia, How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body

Director: Marta Popivoda. Serbia, France, Germany, 2013. Free admission.

Friday, June 3 and Sunday, June 5

 Art Square, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Festival

The SOTA@GARAGE educational program will finish up with a festival presenting the works created during the program, as well as other participatory performances.