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
In the autumn and winter of 2009-2010 If I Can't Dance... invited Lars Bang Larsen to teach the thematic seminar 'Masquerade' at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. Part of the programme was a series of public screenings and lectures by Lars Bang Larsen (freelance writer and curator), Francesco Bernardelli (art critic and curator), Dominic Eichler (artist and writer) and Yann Chateigné Tytelman (writer and curator). 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 »
'Affectionately Yours' goes Gdansk
30/04/10 - 10/05/10From 30 April until 10 May, the research project 'Affectionately Yours', curated by If I Can't Dance... at the Dutch Art Institute in Enschede, travels to Gdansk in Poland. For a period of 10 days, the students are hosted by the Wyspa Institute of Art, located on the Gdansk Shipyard. Tutors Phil Collins and Hito Steyerl will be present as mentors and If I Can't Dance... is offering curatorial guidance. On Saturday the 8th of May, from 18:00 hrs, the final results of a week's work are presented. Read more »
Thomas Elsaesser
19/05/2010, 20:00 hrs, Rijksmuseum TwenteD-3-D: THE RETURN OF DEEP SPACE
In his lecture, Professor Thomas Elsaesser will be shedding a light on 3-D cinema. With the not entirely unexpected box-office success of Avatar, 3-D films are all the rage. But this 'return of deep space' had been prepared for long in advance, and it is not at all obvious, what reasons, forces or intentions stand behind this change in viewing experience and perceptual habits. Thomas Elsaesser is Professor Emeritus of Film and Television Studies at the University of Amsterdam. His 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 »