a r c h i v e

2013

MayDay: VestAndPage workshops

2013


Vest And Page + Participants

(original copy)
“MayDay is an 8-day intensive workshop on the praxis of performance art, following performance artist duo VestAndPage's method through the process of making a performative piece. During the practical exercises, under various conditions, the participants are provided with means to conceive, develop and realize a performance, mainly only using their own body as a tool:

• To exercise and research on a changing daily basis.
• To work towards touching point zero in perception, introspection, judgement (on oneself and on others) and intention, to then rebuild a new way of authenticity-based perception and expression, for finally transforming visions and ideas into concrete artistic action.
• To take distance from merely being virtuous by establishing, evaluating, and energizing the personal action in situ.
• To free oneself from common behavioural patterns so as to create new ways of encountering, collaborating and living.
• To overcome the fragile constituent limits, may they be based on physicality, fears or social patterns.
• To touch and strengthen the most human inner sensors in order to activate personal and universal memories, for use as a germinal matter for future artistic substance.

Actions and exercises are innovative but inspired by Dynamic Breathing, Social Theatre, Living Theatre, Macro and Micro Spherology, Inner Library, Liminality, Archetypes, Rituality, Memory activation, Body-Space-Object, Time-Duration-Rhythm, Voice/Sound, Emotional Atmosphere, Inter-activity. The goal of the workshop is to provide the participants with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge and artistic sensitivity to conceive a final, individual performance. Final Group Performance includes artists such as; Bean, Charlotte Wendy Law, Francesca Lisette, Ria Righteous to mention but a few.”

VESTANDPAGE: German artist and dancer Verena Stenke and Venetian artist, writer and curator Andrea Pagnes have been working together under the name of VestAndPage in Performance art, filmmaking, writing and as independent curators since 2006. They are experienced workshop leaders and facilitators for students, art professionals from different backgrounds and non-art participants, either normally endowed or differently abled, of any age. They have been invited to hold practical workshops, research lectures and teachings in institutions worldwide such as Centre for Community Cultural Development and Lingnan University (Hong Kong), UNEARTE Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes (Caracas), Taipei Artist Village (Taiwan), Universidad Austral (Valdivia, Chile), University of Fine Arts and Theatre (Santiago, Chile), EMBA (Buenos Aires), Alumnos47 Foundation (Mexico City), TeaK Theatre Academy (Helsinki), Seoul Art Space (Seoul), The Substation (Singapore), BITEF Theatre (Belgrade), NYU Steinhardt School of Culture (Venice/New York), Social Theatre Academy IsoleComprese (Florence) among others.