17:00 – 19:00
(doors open 16:00 – 21:00)
With: Frédérique Bergholtz, Anna Buyvid, Anik Fournier, Nada Gambier, Sara Giannini, Patrick Freriksen, Agnese Krivade, Bel McLaughlin, Snejanka Mihaylova, Lisa Montan, Javier Rodriguez Perez, Alva Roselius, Hannah van der Schaaf, Agnese Spolverini, Mia Tamme
During Amsterdam Art Week 2025, If I Can’t Dance’s COOP Study Group at the Dutch Art Institute ‘The Word and Wound: And Now You Are Ready to Sing’ will convene in our theatre space for a three-day workshop and a public sharing on Friday 23 May. With this event, the group opens up their ongoing practice of ‘thinking-in-assembly’, a method that connects thinking and listening, deepening the relations between personal experiences and collective voice.
Together with them we invite you to engage in a conversation about the acts of listening and singing, focusing on their potential as reparational practices in times of grief, violence, and harm. Taking its cues from the histories, methods, and reflections that the group has encountered in their process of study, the assembly will reflect on questions like: What does it mean to be ready to sing? And what does it mean to sing with others? What is the relation between the individual voice and the voice of the group? How does it connect to the body and to (bodily) memory? What are the resonances of singing (together) in the context of the present wounds? In what way does singing mobilize our critical, political, and artistic potential? How can singing be not only an emanation of sound but an embodied practice of listening?
The event also marks the launch of a new section on If I Can’t Dance’s website, dedicated to our long and rich history in teaching workshops at the Dutch Art Institute. This itinerant Master Programme works at the intersection of theory, art, activism, performance, and curating. Without a permanent home, students and tutors convene seven times per year at different places throughout Europe (and beyond) to engage in collective study. Since 2008 If I Can’t Dance has been developing workshops for this programme, engaging over the years the lustrous course tutors Tanja Baudoin, Phil Collins, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Jon Mikel Euba, Sara Giannini, Susan Gibb, Emma Hedditch, Snejanka Mihaylova, Sarah Pierce, Rory Pilgrim, Jimmy Robert, Stefanie Seibold, Hito Steyerl, Ian White, Grant Watson, Geo Wyex, and Arnisa Zeqo. Through texts, documentation, and syllabi, you can get an impression of the different thematics as well as the performance and pedagogical methodologies these courses have proposed. In our physical space, you will also find a display of student-made publications and a variety of archival material.
If I Can’t Dance is looking forward to welcome you to our space and think together!
Accessibility information: – If I Can’t Dance is located on the second floor, unfortunately without an elevator
- Seated event
- Gender neutral WC
- Language: English
Photo credit: Nikos Doulos
