Art stations fundation - by Grażyna Kulczyk

OLD BREWERY NEW DANCE AT MALTA 2016

Can contemporary choreography change the world?
In the times of crises of democracy, can this “most democratic of arts” as it is often referred to provide us with some special remedies? deliver alternative scenarios?

Choreography as a space of possible abolishment of Rancière’s paradox of the spectator.
A space where the usual opposition between watching and acting has been  surpassed.
A space where instead of being a passive voyeur, the spectator becomes emancipated equal creator of the meaning.
A space where on principle, a single predominant meaning got forsaken in favour of equally valuable multiple readings.
A space where the activated, exploring, experimenting, and most of all, experiencing spectator does not succumb to the opinions and arbitrary judgements of others, so as not to surrender – as cautioned by Rancière – to any authority, constraint or oppression.

Choreography as a space for a (yet/still) possible community of individually perceiving, creating, interpreting and acting members.
Persistence in cultivating of (autonomous) choreographic art as a form of resistance.
Contemporary choreographic practice as an essentially political gesture.

This is the kind of choreography that has been celebrated within the Old Brewery New Dance programme for over a decade. Moreover, we believe it was no coincidence in 2004 (incidentally, the year of launching our programme) that Rancière was invited to give his famous lecture by one of leading contemporary choreographer Marten Spånberg…

And so, can contemporary choreography change the world? Does art have such power at all? At a time when once again we need Utopias more than ever,
we subscribe to Jeff Wall’s view that if not the world, it can change the onlooker and their relationship with the world…

programme curator
Joanna Leśnierowska