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UBC Colloquium 2017

Lines of Flight: Improvisation, Hope and Refuge

June 24-25, 2017
Associated Concerts until June 29, 2017 (see listings below)
The University of British Columbia, Robson Campus, Room C400
10:00am – 5:00pm
Free and Open to the Public
(See the call for papers here.)

In a world marked by social and cultural upheavals, what can the improvising arts contribute to hopeful forms of public mobilization? How do demonstrations, protests and marches build from spontaneity and spontaneity ? How do theatrical, musical and artistic practices of improvisation intervene the politics of belonging or of responsible citizenship? Does improvisation provide means of escape or means of hopeful transformation? How do the improvisational arts address the refugee crisis? Can improvisation shape forms of social justice? How might listeners and practitioners become what Dave and Iola Brubeck presciently called “Real Ambassadors”? How can music, as Jayne Cortez once put it, call you to fly home “when you didn’t have / a home to fly to”?

Schedule

Saturday, June 24^th

10:00am Welcome, Acknowledgement and Opening Remarks
Kevin McNeilly, University of British Columbia
Improvisation in Scattered Times

10:30am Artist Presentation
Cat Toren(BC/USA)
HUMAN KIND

11:30am-12:30pm Keynote
Sara Ramshaw, University of Exeter and University of Victoria
Hope, Refuge, Justice: The Ethics and Trauma of Improvisation

12:30pm-1:30pm Afternoon Break

1:30pm-2:00pm Website Launch
Janey Dodd, University of British Columbia
iicsi.arts.ubc.ca

2:00pm-3:00pm Artist Keynote
Julia Ulehla and Aram Bajakian (USA/BC)
Dalava: The Book of Transfigurations

3:00 – 4:30pm Panel 1: Emerging Scholarship
Zoe Laks, University of British Columbia
Seances:Investigating Mediated Memory and Self-Actualization in the Digital Age

Ian Thut, Ryerson University
Combatting Prejudice Through Free Improvised Music

Max Wainwright, University of British Columbia
“That’s Just the Way It Has to Be”: Reflections on Recording with the Vancouver Rock Band, Be Afraid

Sunday, June 25^th

10:00am-10:30am Welcome, Acknowledgement and Opening Remarks
Kevin McNeilly, University of British Columbia
Improvisation in Scattered Times

10:30am-11:30am Artist Interview
Les Fillesde Illighadad (Niger)
Fatou Seidi Ghali, Madassani Ahmoudou, Alamnou Akrouni

11:30am-12:30pm Keynote
Tom Scholte, University of British Columbia
Improvising Reconciliation:Dancing with Complexity in Theatre for Living’s “šxʷʔam̓ət (home)

12:30pm-1:30pm Afternoon Break

1:30pm-2:30pm Artist Keynote
John Hollenbeck (USA/Quebec)

2:30pm-3:30pm Artist Presentation
Ig Henneman & Ab Baars (Netherlands)

3:30pm-4:30pm Panel 2: Emerging Scholarship
Meena Kahlon, Simon Fraser University
Bonded Whether Bare or Bearded: Communities in Self Constructed Feminine Facial Hair in the Sikh Diaspora

Tobias Ewé, University of British Columbia
Disrupting Flow: Against an Aesthetics of Immersion

Associated Concerts (Free to the Public)

Les Filles de Illighadad Georgia Stage @ VAG June 24 2:15 pm
IgHenneman/Lisa Miller/Jeff Younger/Ingrid Laubrock/Skye Brooks Ironworks June 26 5:00 pm