UNLIMITED BODIES: Dimitri Chamblas and Sigrid Pawelke Team Up for Performa 19

‘UNLIMITED BODIES’ participants at Performa Hub in NYC | Image courtesy of Dimitri Chamblas

Dean of The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance Dimitri Chamblas and art historian Sigrid Pawelke present UNLIMITED BODIES, a weeklong workshop taking place as part of Performa 19 Biennial in New York City.

UNLIMITED BODIES is a seven-day interdisciplinary workshop inspired by the radical pedagogies of the Bauhaus movement and Black Mountain College (1933-57). Over the course of the week, each participant is granted an opportunity to shift from their student role to that of an instructor, suggesting group exercises while exploring themes like the Anthropocene body, artificial intelligence and migration. Chamblas collaborated with School of Critical Studies Dean Amanda Beech to realize the biennial event. The workshop runs through Sunday, Nov. 17 at the Performa Hub (at Jeffrey Deitch gallery).

The workshop is brought to life by 15 graduate students, including CalArtians Madison Hicks (Dance MFA 21), Siye Zhang (Dance MFA 21), Tatum Howey (Critical Studies MFA 21) and Allison Smith (Critical Studies MFA 21). The performance is realized by a partnership between Performa, The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts, NYU, University of Giessen and Paris École des Beaux-Arts. 

Established in 2005 by curator and editor RoseLee Goldberg, Performa Biennial is a New York City-based performance arts festival “dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance … and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century.”

The eighth edition celebrates three weeks of cutting-edge programming, among them a centennial celebration of the Bauhaus school (1919-33). Bauhaus-inspired pieces feature prominently among the 2019 edition’s commissioned works.