workshop | free access by registration
information and registration +41 (0)22 365 15 50 or admin@festival-far.ch
duration : approx. 150'
free access by registration
The Art of a Culture of Hope will unfold in two parts : A Sharing, a night of performance that combines oral accounts, presentations and music, and the worksop A Space for Hope
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In a world ruled by politicians whose rhetoric is dominated by politics of fear, Jessica Huber and James Leadbitter seek to make room for other voices. Using the potential of art to formulate new stories, the duo initiates a dialogue to find out the origins of this feeling of fear and to balance it out with notions of hope. The Art of a Culture of Hope describes a large-scale project that seeks to trigger hope-filled group reflection and action when it states that ‘another world may be possible, but it is not promised or guaranteed’, in the words of writer and activist Rebecca Solnit. A Space for Hope is a workshop open to everyone that aims to provide an area to debate and share on issues pertaining to notions of fear, hope and the future.
concept, artistic direction: Jessica Huber, James Leadbitter / artistic collaboration: Gabriela Rutz, Ramin Mosayebi /coproduction: Gessnerallee Zurich, Südpol Lucerne, Roxy Bâle, far° Nyon / support: Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Stadt Zürich Kultur, Schweizer Kulturstiftung Pro Helvetia, Migros Kulturprozent/Prärie.
about the artists : Jessica Huber works as an artist in the field of the performing arts and is a founding member of mercimax (since 2005), a theatre group and performance installation collective, based in Zürich. Although most of her early pieces have been dance pieces, her recent work and the forms and formats she chooses, have become more diverse. Jessica works with curiosity and has a special interest in the texture of relationships and in how we function as individuals in society. She regularly gives workshops to professionals and non-professionals (different social groups) and has created dance pieces with elderly people. She deeply enjoys diversity and is fascinated by the many possible aesthetics of exchange. In her work with mercimax she has been regularly working with non-professionals (in the sense of not having any stage experience) as the work has often had a documentary quality to it. // James Leadbitter is also know as the vacuum cleaner : an art and activism collective of one. Working across art-forms: including performance, installation and film, James Leadbetter addresses challenging and taboo issues such as consumerism and mental health. From one-man shows to large-scale participatory actions, his approach is both subtle and extreme, but always candid, provocative and playful. His work has been exhibited throughout the UK, recent major commissions include Wellcome Collection and FACT. International commissions include Festspiele/Gessnerallee (Zurich) and Vooruit/Dr Guislain Hospital Museum (Ghent). His films have been commissioned by BBC4 and Channel 4. He is an Artsadmin Artist.
