Poznan Self-Reading Group invites you for a common reading of a famous text by French philosopher Jacques Rancière, whose thesis became a starting point for this year’s idiom of the Malta Festival. While reading (in Polish) “An emancipated spectator” we will reflect on possible positions of the viewer towards art. A reading together and conversation will be an excellent opportunity to take a closer look at the curatorial idea of this year’s festival (idiom: “Paradox of a spectator”), as well as a theoretical introduction to the Old Brewery New Dance at Malta program. We invite everyone who would like to deepen their knowledge not only on contemporary dance but also to reflect on the position of a spectator in art in general. No prior technical preparation is required. Copies of texts will be available on site.

Self-reading group:
After the February coaching Contemporary Contemporary Dance with Rudi Laermans, three 2016 Alternative Dance Academy grantees – Hanna Kanecka (Adam Mickiewicz University), Gaja Karolczak (Sens Movement Foundation) and Regina Lissowska (Adam Mickiewicz University) – decided to continue reading together English-language texts on contemporary dance in the broad sense within the framework of the Self-Reading Group – a practice of reading aloud and discussing texts on art theory initiated by Sens Movement Foundation in 2015. With the logistical support of the Amarant Center and assisted by a living philosophical dictionary – Bartosz Mroczkowski (UAM, Machina Myśli), we started a series of meetings dedicated to the body, movement, choreography and the question of the politicality of dance. The idea behind the regular meetings (every Friday at 12:00 in Amaranth) is to create a space where we can freely wander with our thoughts and evoke spontaneous associations, exchange observations and search for meanings updating the read text. The topics of the readings are each time agreed upon by their participants, and the directions of the considerations are jointly negotiated. Among the authors read so far are Jacques Rancière, Mark Franko, André Lepecki, Erin Manning, Brian Massumi.