If I Can't Dance... organizes regular gatherings of artists, critical thinkers, writers and various other readers from in and outside the field of contemporary (performance) art to discuss new topics and directions in performative art practice and their relation to social and political issues. With the help of critical texts and visual material, these gatherings aim to create a space that will enable creative disagreement, unexpected links and in-depth debate. Read more »

'Affectionately Yours' - Research project at Dutch Art Institute

In the academic year 2009-2010 If I Can't Dance... coordinates a research project at the the Dutch Art Institute/Master Programme/ArtEZ Institute of the Arts on the notion of affect: 'Affectionately Yours'. Tutors Phil Collins and Hito Steyerl are meeting with the DAI master students on a monthly basis in Enschede. Read more »

'Masquerade' - RESEARCH PROJECT at Piet Zwart Institute
This autumn and winter If I Can't Dance... presents a series of screenings and lectures by Lars Bang Larsen (freelance writer and curator), Francesco Bernardelli (art critic and curator), and Dominic Eichler (artist and writer) in the framework of the thematic seminar 'Masquerade' curated for the Piet Zwart Institute. Read more »

Hito Steyerl, 18 February 2010, The Empire of Senses [Image: 'State of Emergency', fashion spread in Vogue magazine (2006), by Steven Meisel]
Archive
Research project on Masquerade at Dutch Art Institute
In the academic year 2008-2009, If I Can't Dance... coordinated the research project 'Masquerade' at the Dutch Art Institute/Master Programme/ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede. Artist Stefanie Seibold taught the course. A selected group of students met and worked with artists, theorists and curators involved in If I Can't Dance... and developed a project culminating into a presentation at the LAB, a contemporary art space in Dublin. The interventions of DAI in Dublin ran parallel with If I Can't Dance...'s presentation of episode 3 in Project Art Centre (Dublin). Read more »
THE OLD BRAND NEW
'The Old Brand New' is an English language interdisciplinary lecture series revolving around the concept ‘new’ in the arts. The series is held from January to September 2009 on a monthly basis in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. Read more »

upcoming
Reading Group
24/02/2010, 19:30 hrsReading group sessions Winter 2010. The last Reading Group session dedicated to the notion of 'Masquerade'. We will be reading and discussing Peggy Phelan's text 'Failed Live(r)s: whatever happened to her public grief?'. Read more »

upcoming

Marie Luise Angerer

24/03/2010, 20:00 hrs, Rijksmuseum TwenteBEING MOVED: DESIRE AND AFFECT
In her lecture 'Being Moved: Desire and Affect', Marie-Luise Angerer argues that affect functions as bridging matter and performativity, and matter has taken over the position of the subject. Therefore - to perform - not only refers any longer to human beings but includes matter and other species as well. Marie-Luise Angerer, born in Bregenz, Austria, is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the Art Academy of Media, Cologne. Her lecture takes place in the framework of the research project 'Affectionately Yours', that If I Can't Dance... is curating at the Dutch Art Institute in Enschede, together with tutors Hito Steyerl and Phil Collins. Read more »