HaRaKa and NYU Tisch Present PRICKS Virtual Conference

HaRaKa Platform, the Cairo and New York-based performance and research collective, announces its first event of 2021: PRICKS: Pandemic, Representation, Intimacy, Congregation and Knowledge Systems, an international virtual conference in partnership with NYU Tisch School of the Arts Department of Performance Studies.

The virtual event occurs on Friday, January 29, from 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM (EST). It is curated by Ph.D. Candidate Adham Hafez and features guest speakers from around the world who are specialists in performance theory and practice, law, urban planning, political science, and art history.

The conference is an invitation to think of alternative ways performance survives during pandemics and radical political or economic change. Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring, it focuses on knowledge produced in the Arabic-speaking region and reveals aspects new to western discourses.

To register for free, see the full schedule and speakers' bios, visit here.

Speakers at the PRICKS conference include Adam Kucharski (US/KSA), Mariem Guelloz (Tunisia/France), Joachim Ben Yakou (Belgium/Tunisia), Mey Seifan (Syria/ Germany), Mariana Karkoutly (Syria/ Germany), Adham Hafez (Egypt/US), Ismail Fayed (Egypt), Myriam Van Imschoot (Belgium).

The PRICKS virtual event will also coincide with the new edition of HaRaKa's publication: Cairography.

Cairography is a publication about performance, choreography, art theory, and politics in English and Arabic that gathers voices from the Arab world while also incorporating European/US contexts. It creates a platform to meet, think, reflect, and challenge normative views on performance worldwide.

This edition of Cairography is called Emergency Edition. Set within the context of post-blast Beirut, the pandemic, and recent environmental and political catastrophes, the publication speaks about urgency, the need to change the conversation, and to listen.

The project is in partnership with the reputable Belgian organization Sarma, which has dedicated 20 years of work to discourse in performance theory and practice. This year marks the 15th anniversary of a long-term collaboration between HaRaKa and Sarma, including a series of publications scheduled for 2021. Additional support by Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre in Brussels.

Authors in Cairography include Tom Engels (Belgium), Abdullah Al Bayyari (Palestine/Jordan), Mohamad Khalil Harb (Lebanon), Ismail Fayed (Egypt), Adham Hafez (Egypt/US), Nour Ezzedine (Lebanon), Omar Thawabeh (Jordan/Lebanon), Mona Gamil (Ireland/Egypt).

Cairography's core team has been invited to the much-coveted artistic research residency at Kunsthal Gent, in Ghent, Belgium. The residency takes place throughout spring 2021, culminating in a new edition of Cairography, a series of lectures, curated screenings, and public gatherings.