23-25 October 2020

A three-day gathering, bringing the performingbordersLIVE20 artists together to reimagine a borders-free, collaborative live art practice

In partnership with Live Art Development Agency, Counterpoints Arts, East Street Arts, Queer Art Projects and HowlRound Theatre Commons. Supported by Arts Council England

“It is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism.”

Angela Davis

After seven months developing, commissioning, presenting and supporting artists, performingborders are proud to announce Unbordering: a three-day digital programme of performance to camera premieres, open conversations, and a workshop to celebrate the strength, minds, and powerful work of the artists, curators, and agitators involved in perfomingbordersLIVE20.

Unbordering is the collective actions everyone involved in this year’s programme has been cooking up and serving over the past seven months. We have had to respond to the unusual times we live in and as a consequence, to rethink every aspect of a programme that tackles notions and lived experiences of borders at a time when those same borders have been increasing  in their unpredictability and imperviousness on a daily basis.

Unbordering is a celebration of the work done together to contribute to a wider discussion of how our present is rapidly changing, how live artists are affected, and how they fight back.

The 3-day event concludes this year’s perfomingbordersLIVE20 programme of commissions, residencies, workshops, and performative lectures buildinginto a wider discussion within the Live Art sector on how to create collaborative spaces without borders.

All events are presented digitally across our various platforms, with free live captions, and all tickets are free. For any other access needs, please do contact us and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Curated by Alessandra Cianetti and Xavier de Sousa, and produced with Queer Art Projects, Unbordering presents: 

Première of two new performances to camera:

RE:seeding, in correspondence by Jade Montserrat. ‘There is a connection between ourselves and the earth and that this line, or connection, like our communications with one another, is drawing’. The artist will be in conversation with curator Chandra Frank, followed by Q&A.

Friday 23th October, 7pm. For free tickets & English live captions: click here

Lavender Man by Tania El Khoury in collaboration with Mohamad Ali “Dali” Agrebi . A reflection on friendship, chosen families, the long effect of collaborative and community-based art, and the right of love and movement. The artist will be in conversation Mohamad Ali “Dali” Agrebi and Professor of cultural geography Harriet Hawkins.

Saturday 24th October, 7pm. For free tickets & English live captions: click here

Collective Works workshop by Critical Interruptions. A collaborative search of further ways to distort borders – local and (inter)national – and to produce artefacts that speak to closures – real or fictional, as a result of Covid-19, preceding it, or yet to come. 

Saturday 24th, 11am. For free tickets and English live captions click here

Two open conversations:

There Is (No) Time led by Adelaide Bannerman (Never Done). An open conversation with performingbordersLIVE20 artists and writers in residence An open conversation with our artists and writers in residence The White Pube, Jade Montserrat, Jade Foster, Àníké Bello, Jade Foster and Istanbul Queer Art Collective. Not fully emergent from the global pandemic, what have we as individuals, and the respective communities that we are part of, learnt about time?

Sunday 25th, 2.30pm. For free tickets and English live captions click here

Transgressing Borders. A panel on unbordering processes for writing and digital conversations is an open conversation facilitated by Morgan Quaintance with performingbordersLIVE’s featured artists Sebastian Aguirre, Burong, Whiskey Chow, Carolyn Defrin, Critical Interruptions, Syowia Kyambi, Elena Marchevska, and Pankaj Tiwari. The panel will explore the ways the artists have been navigating their collaborative and dialogical performative and writing practices within a predominant digital and online landscape. Saturday 24, 2:30pm-4pm (online) (more info coming soon)

And finally, a couple of surprises for you…

On the final day of Unbordering, a digital present created by Camille Barton addressing notions of social justice and somatic movement, will be shared with the performingborders newsletter to greet everyone that has participated, contributed and attended performingbordersLIVE20.

The newsletter’s subscribers will be also able to read Daniella Valz Gen’s response to performingbordersLIVE20’s commissions in the performingborders’ November’s edition.

Participants artists, curators, and agitators: Mohamad Ali “Dali” Agrebi, Sebastian Aguirre, Camille Barton, Àníké Bello, Burong, Whiskey Chow, Carolyn Defrin, Jade Foster, Chandra Frank, Harriet Hawkins, Critical Interruptions, Istanbul Queer Art Collective, Tania El Khoury,  Syowia Kyambi, Elena Marchevska, Jade Montserrat, Morgan Quaintance, The White Pube, Pankaj Tiwari, Daniella Valz Gen. Biographies here

FULL PROGRAMME

***Al the events will be live captioned (English)***

Friday 23rd
7pm-8:15pm (1h15min): RE:seeding, in correspondence, performance to camera commission premiere – Jade Montserrat. In conversation with Chandra Frank. Free tickets here

Saturday 24th
11am-1pm: Collective Works workshop by Critical Interruptions. Free tickets here
2.30pm- 4pm: Open conversation facilitated by Morgan Quaintance with Sebastian Aguirre, Burong, Whiskey Chow, Carolyn Defrin, Syowia Kyambi, Elena Marchevska, Pankaj Tiwari. (more info coming soon)
6.30pm-8:00pm: Lavender Man, performance to camera commission premiere – Tania El Khoury in conversation with Mohamad Ali “Dali” Agrebi and Professor Harriet Hawkins. Free tickets here

Sunday 25th
2.30pm-4pm: There is (No) Time open conversation facilitated by Adelaide Bannerman (Never Done) with Àníké Bello, Jade Foster, Istanbul Queer Art Collective, Jade Montserrat and The White Pube. Free tickets here

Presented in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency, Counterpoints Arts, East Street Arts and HowlRound Theatre Commons.

performingbordersLIVE20 (March – November 2020). A public programme of open calls, artist digital commissions, residencies, workshops, open conversations, and events, focusing on the exploration of experimental and exciting artistic practices happening within the UK Live Art sector around notions and lived experiences of physical, cultural, juridical, racial, gendered, class, and everyday borders.

Curated by Xavier de Sousa and Alessandra Cianetti.

Presented by performingborders and Foreign Actions Productions in partnership with Counterpoints Arts (London), Live Art Development Agency (London), Contact (Manchester), East Street Arts (Leeds), MAFWA Theatre (Leeds), The Albany/Deptford Lounge (London), Something Human/Asia-Art-Activism (London), Never Done (London), Ọ̀RỌ̀ ÀNÍKÉ (London), Queer Art Projects (London), East London Cable (London), Green Rooms Hotel (London), HowlRound Theatre Commons (Boston, US), Warehouse9 (Copenhagen, Denmark). Supported by Arts Council England. 

https://performingborders.live