Transart Institute for Creative Research invites you to our spring Open Window Series. The last weekend of every month, the Institute opens the window on our sessions briefly to share with alumni and the public part of what takes place in our topic-based intensives for our students. Each Intensive Weekend addresses a curated topic through workshops, screenings, panels, studio visits, sound and somatic sessions with our renowned international faculty, advisors, and guests. We have selected the following sessions to share with you:
Saturday, March 26, 3–4:45pm UTC
Body as Archive: a Sound Bath with Zeerak Ahmed
If past sounds are akin to cultural artefacts, how must we use our sounding bodies to access them? Should we consider the body as an archive of listening and the voice as a tool to excavate? Through an experimental meditative sound bath, voice exercises and group discussions on listening vs hearing, we will explore the possibilities of an immaterial knowledge nestled in the music of all the sonic experiences that are held and all that haunts the body in its absence. An exploration of silence, environmental sounds and experimental music will be used to activate the sounding body and bring new awareness to listening and voicing.
Saturday, March 26, 5–6pm UTC
Death in the Age of Rationality: Playing with Death in Popular Amusements - a lecture by Joanna Ebenstein + Q&A
Joanna will examine western cultural imaginings of death in a “post-religious” world by tracing the history of death-themed popular amusements from the phantasmagoria ghost shows of 18th century pre-revolutionary France to the present, with looks at the Diableries, The Paris Morgue, The Cabarets of Death, The Grand Guignol, and Coney Island’s disaster spectacles.
Saturday, March 26, 6:15-7pm UTC
How to Raise a Ghost: Memento Mori as Contemporary Praxis: an artist talk with Mia van Leeuwen + Q&A
How to Raise a Ghost is a research-creation project led by Mia van Leeuwen that explores artistic perspectives on death. Inspired by the ancient principles of memento mori and other death confronting approaches, the work seeks multi-perspectivism on this vast subject by engaging in death studies research, artistic inquiry, philosophical contemplation, movement, a sense of humour, collaborative practice and interviews with artists about their relationship to death.
Saturday, April 30, 8–9pm UTC
Connecting with the Local: Building Relationship with the More-than-Human, a lecture by Tracy Benson
Tracey will discuss several recent projects by exploring themes of deep listening, connecting to place, climate change and impacts of COVID-19. How art, well-being, and environmental awareness connect in practical ways that are restorative, collaborative, and ethical are vital issues that will be addressed in this presentation. Video, photography, audio, augmented reality, and walking are all aspects featured in the projects discussed, as well as mapping and locative media.
Saturday, May 28, 4–5pm UTC
The Kinesthetic Pictorial: an artist talk with Tia Halliday.
In this presentation, artist Tia Halliday will be discussing her current work in dance-based performance, photography, drawing and painting. Stemming from a kinesthetic inquiry into the nature, experience and history of painting and drawing, Tia asks questions that challenge common orientations to two-dimensional art. Such questions include the sensorial and bodily dimensions of images and what it would be like to step inside the skin of a painting.
Three-month academy (April–June)
Apply by March 15. Academy courses are for anyone with a specific creative research project or question/s they want to examine to develop their work. MFA/PhD-track and Praxis Refresher courses are available. The Academy offers trans-local, non-credit courses of supported, independent creative research. Expect to connect and exchange with an international group of creative practitioners and researchers in intimate scale settings. You will work one-on-one with advisors, attend a Transart weekend intensive, participate in open-ended research, critique, or topic-based groups and optionally attend a micro-residency in July, visiting DOCUMENTA 15 & the 12th Berlin Biennale.
For more information, visit the Academy page, or write to mfa [at] transart.org or phd [at] transart.org.
Transart info sessions
Join us for a group info session to learn more about our programs, ask questions, discuss your practice, and get actionable feedback so that you can refine your proposals and take your creativity to the next level. Sign up here.
Final deadine for one-year MFA and PhD applications: May 1, 2022.
