Composer and Phd Fellow Kristin Norderval invites KHIOs staff and students to an open symposium exploring ethical and aesthetic questions around the use of historical or personal trauma in performance.
Open Symposium
Dec 16, 2019 15.00 – 18.00
Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, Auditoriet
Panel participants:
Kristin Norderval – Artistic Research Fellow, composer of The Trials of Patricia Isasa
Patricia Isasa – architect and human rights activist
Hanna Filomen Mjåvatn – dancer and choreographer
Siri Haugan Holden – Director, Balansekunst
Patricia Kaatee – Policy Advisor, Amnesty International Norway
Composer and Phd Fellow Kristin Norderval invites KHIOs staff and students to an open symposium exploring ethical and aesthetic questions around the use of historical or personal trauma in performance.
With high rates of global unrest, and racial- and gender-based violence on the rise, we are seeing more work based on experiences of trauma and inner turmoil. What do we need to consider when tackling difficult subjects, especially if it involves the biography of living persons?
Composer Kristin Norderval will speak about her experience of creating an opera based on the true story of Patricia Isasa – an Argentine woman who survived being disappeared, raped and tortured during the Argentine dictatorship in the mid 1970´s. Patricia Isasa herself, on a rare visit to Norway, will describe what it was like to have her story transformed into an opera. Hanna Filomen Mjåvatn will reflect on her participation in Tekstlab´s workshops of the opera. She will also talk about the creation of her solo show “To Be Called Mary…” a performance that explores difficult experiences related to identity and being adopted.
Also on the panel: Patricia Kaatee, Policy Advisor, Amnesty International, contributing author to Amnesty´s “Time for Change: Justice for Rape Survivors in the Nordic Countries”; and Siri Haugan Holden, Director of Balansekunst, a collaboration of over 80 arts organizations working for a diverse and egalitarian cultural life. Holden will speak about particular risk factors in the performing arts that can contribute to harassment, sexual and otherwise, in the work environment. Kaatee will address the situation of gender-based violence in the Nordic countries and Amnesty International´s history of collaboration with artists to address traumatic issues.
Some of the questions we have been pondering: How do we make art about things that are too difficult to articulate in words? What does rehearsing and performing work based on trauma do to us psychologically and physically? What ethical questions do we need to consider if we are creating work based on trauma? How can we create safe spaces for that exploration? What else do we need to ask?
Photo credit: Mathieu Dupuis