stromereien 09 - Denkströme (Conference)

public spaces – specific sites

With denkströme, stromereien 09 has opened a new, public scope for discourse. Using particular festival performances, denkströme will explore how places and public spaces are differently perceived and in what way site-specific performance art reacts to these perceptions.

Various guests from different areas – architecture, town planning, law, administration, art, cultural studies – will provide insight into their own personal understanding of space, and discuss the regulations that apply to these understandings and how decisions about these spaces are made. Varying, innovative and theme-specific formats will ensure a lively discussion instead of just dry theory.

denkstrom 1 – Specifc sites and performative spaces
Thursday 30th July, 17.00-18.30, Tanzhaus Zurich
denkstrom 1 examines the various ways in which different performance sites around the Tanzhaus Zürich have been utilised and interpreted. YoungSoon Cho Jaquet, Victorine Müller and Nadine Schwarz will use their performances to discuss their perceptions of what „site specific“ means, together with architect Fabio Gramazio (GramazioKohler) and the urban planner Ute Schneider (KCAP).
Moderation: Sonja Berthold

denkstrom 2 – Public space and sleep
Friday, 31st July, 15.00-16.30, Helmhaus/Wasserkirche, Limmatquai 31
With their performance „Z’s by the C: a Radical Crafting and Public Napping Project“, the artists Mia Rushton and Eric Moschopedis ask the public to take a nap in different public places in Zürich. denkstrom 2 will further explore the topic of sleeping in public: the chrono-biologist Ludmila Cuninkova (Institute for Pharmacology, University of Zürich) and lawyer Martin Sigrist (Institute for Law and Legal Science, University of Zürich) will be discussing various issues regarding sleep, genetics and self-determination, together with the artists themselves. The sleeping habits of the residents of Zürich will be simultaneously observed via live video streaming.
Moderation: Stefan Wagner.

denkstrom 3 has unfortunately been cancelled.

denkstrom 4 – Economic space and emotional place
Tuesday, 4th August, 17.00-18.30, Tanzhaus Zurich
In his performance, Jordan McKenzie asks questions about finding comfort in a city marked by the problems of the global financial market. denkstrom 4 looks for answers to these questions – a paediatrician Sepp Holtz (developmental paediatrics, Zürich Children’s Hospital) and a second guest will discuss the emotional effects of suckling on dummies, and explore the atmosphere of urban spaces and who decides what happens to them.
Moderation: Thomas Grüebler

By the way: The electromagnetic field around Paradeplatz will be occupied during Jordan McKenzie’s performance on Wednesday, 5th August from 12.30 to 14.30, when the recording of denkstrom 4 from the previous day will be broadcast simultaneously.

Curator: Thomas Grüebler
Collaboration: Sonja Berthold, Stefan Wagner

Denkströme works in collaboration with the Institute Design2context at the Zurich University of the Arts

Thomas Grüebler
studied theatre with a focus on improvisation in Paris and San Francisco, founded and ran various theatre and performance projects, and studied art history, religious studies and physics in Fribourg and Zurich. He has worked on the interface between theory and praxis for many years: Among other projects, he has curated the “Denken hilft” project (Theaterhaus Gessnerallee Zurich, 2005), run the research project www.theatertheorie.net (Zurich University of the Arts, 2005-2008) and worked on a new, trans-disciplinary concept for the Fabriktheater (2008). He also teaches at the Zurich University of the Arts.