Brussels,
May 19 - 20, 2007
Far enough? – An Academy on the way to Kunstenfestivaldesarts

For the third time, the Gasthuis, in cooperation with the research group Art Practice and Development at the Amsterdam School of the Arts, is assembling a limited group of makers with backgrounds in a variety of artistic disciplines. An Academy will displace itself to witness exceptional new works and to participate in critical discourse – with one another and with special guests.

An Academy is a non-institutional school that is called into temporary existence under special circumstances to provide young theatre professionals with the opportunity to hone their thoughts about their work in an inspiring learning environment. In past years An Academy was located in the context of the Holland Festival. This year An Academy makes its way to the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.

We contemporary theatre professionals seem no longer bound to a single location; we are continually on the move. Always accessible, flexible and of course in contact with a wide variety of people and places, we extend our global network across disciplinary and geographical boundaries. But might we not lose perspective on our own position in the resultant web of complex relationships. Are we able to define a critical standpoint while ‘on the move’? What are the implications of this ‘nomadic outlook’ (Rosi Braidotti)? Do we want to move on, or is it time to pause and ponder?

Performances by Toshiki Okada / Chelfitsch, Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom, Eszter Salamon, Alvis Hermanis / New Riga and Cie Isabella Soupart. Visual art projects by Sarah Vanagt and The Otolith Group. Guest speakers include Bettina Wind.

www.kfda.be

“Being cosmopolitan means being aware of the ever-increasing globalization of one’s life, and of the resulting, increased level of responsibility which one bears. In his beliefs and actions, the cosmopolitan is no longer willing to march under a collective banner, preferring to seek out his own path through a much more complex network of communities which go beyond national, linguistic and narrowly-defined cultural borders.”

Cosmopolitics, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, programme booklet