Performance Efficacy

Speakers: 
Emylia Safian, Lecturer MA Art Therapy, LASALLE
Robert Liew, Arts Management Associates
Dr Felipe Cervera, Lecturer Faculty of Performing Arts, LASALLE

Constructs of Cultural Humility in Relationships
Emylia Safian

The term ‘cultural competency’ in health disciplines has its beginnings in the fields of psychiatry and medical anthropology.  Kleinman (1981) emphasised the need to understand complexities of person-centred experiences of illness based on cultural beliefs.  Cultural humility later emerged as a theoretical re-visioning of the alliance between service provider and service user. In this presentation, I will consider constructs of cultural humility from a social-ecological framework and highlight their bearing on relationships.  I will present Traces, a social action project that reflects on mental health and intergenerational transmissions of trauma over the human lifespan (on view 10 Oct – 10 Nov 2018) and further discuss developmental and analytical psychology perspectives as explored by art therapists in-training. 

Curatorial Dilemmas in the Performing Arts
Robert Liew

Under what conditions should the curatorial process be evaluated?  By investigating the practical dilemmas faced in the programming of the performing arts, I hope to determine if evaluative indicators can be meaningfully used. The discussion will include the dichotomy between producing and presenting, conservation and innovation. I will approach the presentation by focusing primarily on Singapore’s cultural evolution over the last three decades. This includes an enquiry into the nature and potential of public-private partnerships in the field of the performing arts.
 
Artaud in Outer Space: Performance Efficacy and the Extraterrestrial Problem
Dr Felipe Cervera

On 12 September 1962, in a speech that is remembered as the ‘we choose to go to the moon speech’ Kennedy likened outer space to a theatre. The metaphor has since become a cliché in astropolitical discourse, but what if we took Kennedy’s word literally? What if space were a theatre? What would be the theatricality of the spectacles performed there? In this presentation, I will constellate Artaud’s Theatre and its Double with art collector Yusaku Maezawa’s recently announced mission to the Moon and NASA’s research into extraterrestrial intelligence. I will reflect on the potential efficacy of space art and performance within the context of this century's astrocolonial discourse, and the intent to make of life an extraterrestrial experience.