Talks on Resistance
Artistic Strategies of Resistance and (Self-)Defense
Defending democratic values and the planet’s livability requires acting in solidarity, critically interrogating power structures, and cultivating new alliances. Such efforts demand spaces for sustained dialogue. In this public conversation series, Geneva-based artist Yan Duyvendak engages with international artists from the festival program and participants of the ZHdK Summer School to examine pressing global challenges and explore artistic practices as laboratories of political imagination and resilient cultural agency.
Mon 18.8., 6pm
With educator, presenter and author Isabelle Fremeaux and activist, author and performer Jay Jordan
How can we break binaries, imagine a queer non dualistic future, post colonial, patriarchal capitalist world where the seperations of art/life, culture/nature, art/activism are dissolved. Is there art in queertopia?
Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (Labofii) is a collective of artists and activists experimenting at the intersection of art and resistance for over 20 years, creating playful, poetic, and impactful forms of rebellion. Isa Fremeaux (she/her) is an educator, facilitator and author, formerly Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck College, London. Active in social movements for nearly two decades, she focuses on collective dynamics, popular education and rituals. She lives on the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes and co-facilitates Labofii. Jay Jordan (JJ) (they), called a «magician of rebellion», has spent three decades bringing theatre, performance, and activism together. From museums to squats, climate camps to carnivalesque riots, JJ inhabits the ZAD with Isa, co-facilitating Labofii.
Tue 19.8., 6pm
With Carrie Shelver, Pooja Badarinath und Autorin, Performerin und Regisseurin Antje Schupp
Why is it more important than ever for you to get politically active as a civilian / artist / activist? Have you got examples where art and activism have really achieved something together and others, where it has rather not worked so well? What have been the challenges for you to bring those two fields of work together?
#EmptyChairs is a feminist campaign aiming to transform the UN Human Rights Council into a People’s Council — led by ordinary people worldwide, not just political leaders. It seeks to ensure that those historically oppressed and marginalized can shape the agenda, influence decisions, and fully exercise their rights. The campaign works with allies to chart this path through deep and sustained public participation and leadership.
Wed 20.8., 6pm
With musician, author, choreographer and performer Dorothée Munyaneza
How can joy be connected to acts of resistance, creative impulses, and poetic commitment?
Dorothée Munyaneza is a Rwandan-born, Marseille-based musician, author, choreographer and performer. One of Europe’s most compelling voices in contemporary performance, she weaves music, text, song and movement to address historical scars and ruptures as forces of transformation. Her powerful works foster cross-border artistic dialogue and create resonant spaces for memory and hope.
Thu 21.8., 6pm
With performer, director and author Ntando Cele
How have you personally evolved through the topics and ideas that are part of your work?What of your work will remain when youre dead?
Ntando Cele is a South African director and theatremaker based in Bern. Known for her bold, genre-defying works blending theatre, music and satire, she explores identity, prejudice and stereotypes with sharp political edge. Her internationally touring pieces have earned her major awards, including the Swiss Diversity Award and the Swiss Prize for Performing Arts.
Fri 22.8., 18.00 Uhr
With the ZHDK Summer School
In its third year, the Summer School represents a collaboration between the Master’s Program in Transdisciplinarity at the Zurich University of the Arts (under the direction of Patrick Müller) and the Zürcher Theater Spektakel. This session of the Talk on Resistance is developed and presented by the students themselves, in collaboration with Isa Fremeaux and Jay Jordan, moderated by Yan Duyvendak.
Sat 23.8., 4pm
Holding Space – On Freedom, Silencing and Solidarity in the Arts
with Palestinian Artist Aws Alzubaidy, representative of Performing for Palestine Network Donya Speaks and postcolonial researcher & activist Rohit Jain, the former co-director of Theater Neumarkt Julia Reichert, and Matthias Hartz, the artistic director of Zürcher Theater Spektakel
How can cultural institutions remain spaces for open, critical dialogue in times of increasing polarization, media campaigns and geopolitical tensions? And how can they curate responsibly and freely without resorting to self-/censorship or escapism— especially in the context of ongoing crimes against humanity in Palestine and elsewhere? How can institutions stand in solidarity with artists who are at risk while withstanding political pressure?
This conversation invites participants to enter a «brave space» — a space were different positionalities, vulnerabilities and responsabilities are shared and acknowledged. A space where controversy is not avoided but cultivated as a foundation for democratic community.dern als Grundlage für eine demokratische Gemeinschaft gepflegt werden.
Dates and Tickets
shows from today- Mo 18.08. 18:00 - 19:30 Admission free
- Tu 19.08. 18:00 - 19:30 Admission free
- We 20.08. 18:00 - 19:30 Admission free
- Th 21.08. 18:00 - 19:30 Admission free
- Fr 22.08. 18:00 - 19:30 Admission free
- Sa 23.08. 16:00 - 17:30 Admission free
Artistic direction and cast
| Host | Yan Duyvendak |
|---|---|
| Kollaboration | Talks on Resistance ist eine Zusammenarbeit vom Masterstudiengang Transdiszplinarität der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste und dem Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Teil der ZHdK Summer School 2025 |
| Foto | Artúr van Balen |