From August 30 to September 3,
the Mime Futurity Symposium will take place at the Academy of Theatre
and Dance in Amsterdam (Amsterdam University of the Arts). A research week for and by the
Mime community, performers, makers, designers, critics, curators,
researchers... + everyone who feels connected and curious. All welcome!
We are currently working hard
to complete the program. Underneath you find a peek of the program so far.
Please subscribe here to receive
the full schedule, and to sign in if you want to join.
The symposium is produced by
Mime Opleiding Amsterdam in collaboration with DAS Research. Organising committee: dr. Marijn
de Langen, Dwayne Toemere, Floor van Leeuwen, Gerben Vaillant, Marilixe
Beernink, Miriam Antonius. With
extra thanks for their support to professor Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca,
Paméla Menzo, Stella van Leeuwen, Inge van Eijck.
Tuesday, August 30
From 17.00 we kick off the
symposium! Author Marijn de Langen presents the incentive for this research
week: the brand new book Dutch Mime, in its Dutch and English language
versions. The book is 350 pages, richly illustrated, and beautifully designed
by Connie Nijman. Marijn will speak about the research process, the archive,
and hand out the book to a range of special guests, including many mimers with
a lengthy track record, like Frits Vogels, Klaske Bruinsma, Karina Holla, Fran
Waller Zeper, Marlies Heuer, Geraldine Brans, Luc Boyer, Rob de Graaf. Furthermore,
we welcome guestspeaker Dr. Laura Karreman (University of Utrecht, Media &
Culture Studies), a dear friend of Marijn and a close witness of the research
trajectory.
In the evening, mime performers
and makers will share their views on the futurity of mime, through self-written
texts. How do we imagine the future of mime, as an artform, as it is part of
the world?
Wednesday, August 31
This will be the Day of
Zero, prepared and hosted by Ayrton Frank en Floor van Leeuwen. The concept
of zero is a key concept in Dutch mime since the sixties, as Marijn's book
shows: the idea of a zero point, a ‘neutral’ starting point for playing and
making has always been very important in mime. What is the strength of the
concept and what is its weakness? Is the concept in need of revision? Can we be
inspired by ideas from other disciplines about (the impossibility of) ‘neutrality’? What if we look at zero from, for example, a decolonial, queer,
non-abelist and spiritual perspective? We will start with Zero trainings on the
floor, then we get inspired by several
lectures, and we will split up in smaller groups to work together and exchange.
Thursday, September 1
A day program around mime
techniques. How do we work with, explore, feel, use, train, sense, look at…
bodies in mime? What do we understand by mime technique? How do older and more
contemporary techniques interchange? A program with workshops on the floor
(a.o. by Boukje Schweigman), an interview with mimer Klaske Bruinsma, the
presentation of the recently published English translation of the Mime
Handbook (by Frits Vogels and Amos de Haas), and much more to look forward
to.
We are preparing an evening
program at Club Church around mime and sexuality, hosted by Taka, in
collaboration with Gerben Vaillant and Josephine Rahn, and costume designer
Carly Everaert.
Friday, September 2
Join us at 14.00 for the
Booklaunch @ NTF (Stadsschouwburg, Koninklijke Foyer)
Festive launch of the book Dutch
Mime within the context of the Dutch Theatre Festival at International
Theatre Amsterdam (PRO program). With contributions by: Bianca van der Schoot
& Suzan Boogaerdt, Prof. Maaike Bleeker, Melih Gençboyaci (yet to be
confirmed), Gerben Vaillant & Melyn Chow.
We are preparing an evening
program in collaboration with and at the location of de Mimefabriek, with a dinner,
Mime Futurity #2, and an exchange around the topic systems of support. How
do mimers anno 2022 organize their own systems of support, nationally and
internationally? And what is still missing?
Saturday, September 3
The last day of the symposium
will amongst other things include an interview with Loes van der Pligt,
artistic leader of the Mime School in the period 1998-2021, and we will move to
De Ruimte (Amsterdam Noord), where we host a session called ‘Beyond the
blackbox’, with mimers who work outside the theater, outside the arts. How is
mime transformed in life and work outside the blackbox? We have dinner
together, listen to some final Mime Futurity texts, and end the symposium with
a Music makers & Mimers Party, with mimers making live music and DJ-ing.
There will also be some Open
Spaces in the program. If you have an idea of something you would like to
do, try, in the context of this symposium please contact us via mimesymposium@outlook.com We welcome all proposals (within the limitations of the Academy).
