NEW THEATRE INSTITUTE OF LATVIA

contemporary performing arts in Latvia and abroad

Join the first event in Fire and Light, a series of public conversations that brings together artists to discuss their creative practices in performance, sculpture, bio art, video, social practice and visual art, as well as their crucial work as producers of major international festivals, conferences and performances. Concordia faculty will join the visiting speakers in conversation to offer a unique opportunity for the Concordia community to be in dialogue with the international artist/producers with roots in or relationships to Latvia, Germany and greater Europe.

For this event, artist Bek Berger will be in conversation with VK Preston to discuss various disciplinary perspectives on creative process, professional practices, and conceptual concerns when engaging with performance, music, material, and other forms.

Join in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Speakers:
Bek Berger is an Australian curator, artist and creative producer based in Riga, Latvia. She is currently Artistic Director of the New Theatre Institute of Latvia (NTIL) and curator of the International Festival of Contemporary Performance, Homo Novus. Originally from Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) she has worked in festivals across the globe such as American Realness (NYC), Dance Massive (AU), Darwin Festival (AU), Fierce Festival (UK) and Forest Fringe (UK).
As a curator she has (co)/initiated projects such as Critical Futures, Convergence, La Discorso and Possible Futures Forum. Independent of her curatorial work she has been collaborating as a dance dramaturg with choreographer James Batchelor since 2017. Their work has toured to over 20 countries including such contexts as Centre Pompidou (FR), Tanz Im August (DE), December Dance (BE), Dance Massive (AU), Sophiensaele (DE) and as Aerowaves 19 artists in Spring Forward in Paris (FR).

VK Preston is Assistant Professor of History at Concordia University. Their research draws from approaches in performance historiography with particular focus on dance. VK works across histories of the performing arts in order to address cultural histories of practice, embodiment, and stigma. This research analyses histories of the emotions and the senses in intersectional analyses of race, gender, disability, and cultural privilege.

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