Anglo-American University in Prague WHAT’S AN ARTIST TO DO?
Performing Arts for Change in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia with Bryan Reynolds, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Irvine. Introduced by Ondřej Pilný
Art and political action have intermeshed for millennia; their analysis was a cornerstone of the development of critical theory and then cultural studies. This dynamic has intensified as communications technologies have made the possibilities of artistic creation, circulation, and production increasingly more inexpensive and wide-reaching.
In parts of Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, where advanced forms of communications technologies coexist with extreme poverty, the still strong traditional modes of public communication and artistic representation, protest, activist and/or political art remain among the most powerful weapons available to citizens struggling against politically and socially oppressive and/or economically exploitative systems. In this talk, Bryan Reynolds will share some of his experiences making political performing arts or “performance activism” with collaborators at various sites in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia over the last 10 years.
The projects discussed coincide with Reynolds ongoing research with Mark LeVine on performance activism worldwide, which will be published in their forthcoming book, Art Beyond the Edge (UC Press 2025).
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