Curating (with) Ecosystems

Date/Time: 25 August 2023 (Fri.) 16:00-17:30
Venue: 11F Studio 2, Taipei Performing Arts Center
Speaker: Elisa Itkonen, Yoko Kawasaki, Jeff Khan, Liu Ruo-Yu, Yuya Tsukahara (*Ordered alphabetically by last name.)
Language: In English with simultaneous interpretation in Mandrin.
Sign up: Online registration , admission by ticket.

Curating (with) Ecosystems
Rethinking the curatorial with the notion of the ecosystem while considering the ecological as a curatorial method performs dialogues between histories, places, regions and communities in flux and in the process-oriented. This discussion brings together Elisa Itkonen (Managing Director and Lead Curator of ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival in Finland), Yoko Kawasaki and Yuya Tsukahara (Co-Directors of Kyoto Experiment), through their curatorial and institutional practices, will be articulating how ecological knowledge matters for curating.

Speaker
Elisa Itkonen (Finland)
Elisa Itkonen is Curator and Producer in contemporary arts. She has an MA degree in Theatre and Drama Research from the University of Tampere, Finland. Her work concentrates on site-specific contemporary art, public art, and performance. She creates concepts, enables projects, and curates international events - working in close collaboration with multidisciplinary contemporary artists. From 2015 to 2022, she worked as the Festival Manager of ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival in Kuopio, Finland. In 2022, she was appointed as the Director - Lead Curator of the festival. Her key ambitions are to participate in building an economically, socially and ecologically more sustainable art field, and to promote accessibility in arts.

Yoko Kawasaki (Japan)
Performing Arts Producer / Kyoto Experiment Co-director. After working at CAN Inc. and as an art coordinator for Kyoto Art Center from 2011-2014, she was a fellow for the Program of Overseas Study by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan and studied at HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin. In recent years, she has planned and produced interdisciplinary performing arts projects. She has been involved as production coordinator at Kyoto Experiment since 2011 and is co-director since 2020.

Jeff Khan (Australia)
Jeff Khan is a writer, curator and arts leader based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). Currently the Creative Director of Asia TOPA: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts, Jeff works at the intersection of performance, dance, visual art and sound. Previously, Jeff was Artistic Director & CEO at Performance Space, Sydney (2011-2022) where he curated and oversaw the annual Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art, as well as a year-round program of artist development, residencies, and international exchange. Jeff’s curatorial work is focused on the Asia Pacific engaged with exigent issues in the region, from queer and feminist conversations to artists’ responses to environmental, political, and intercultural conversations. Jeff has previously held positions and Guest Curatorships at the Next Wave Festival, Gertrude Contemporary, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. He has participated on juries and assessment panels for the Taishin Art Award (Taiwan); Create NSW; the Australia Council for the Arts; Arts Northern Rivers, and many more.

Liu Ruo-Yu (Taiwan)
Liu Ruo-Yu earned her Master’s degree in Theatre from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 1984. In the next year, she was selected by the renowned Polish theatre director, Jerzy Grotowski, for an intensive year-long professional training, marking the inception of her profound journey into the essence of life. Back in Taiwan, she embarked on a path of exploring the origins of humans in theatre from the vantage point of Eastern cultural embodiment and body practices, igniting an influential avant-garde movement within the theatre landscape. In 1988, she founded “U-Theatre” and initiated “Tracing” project, conducting research on folk rituals and traditional cultural arts while harnessing the power of Tai Chi and body energy for training. In 2008, she was honored with the National Award for Arts in the category of “Performing Artist.” In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Order of the Brilliant Star, Second Class. Since 2021, she has taken on the role as Chairwoman of the Taipei Performing Arts Center.

Yuya Tsukahara (Japan)
Kyoto Experiment Co-director. After graduating with a master’s degree in Aesthetics and Art Studies from Kwansei Gakuin University, he joined NPO DANCEBOX as a volunteer and later became a staff member. In 2006, he began activities as an artist as a member of the performance group contact Gonzo. In 2020, he received the Best staff award at the Yomiuri Theater Awards for his scenography and choreography in the theater work Pratthana – A Portrait of Possession. Since 2020, he is also a part-time lecturer at the Department of Sculpture at Kyoto City University of Arts.