Performing Mourning
On the occasion of his new book, Performing Mourning, Laments in Contemporary Art, the Vienna-based dance dramaturg Guy Cools will discuss contemporary art practices in literature, visual and performing arts that use mourning as a source for activism. Using the tradition of the Greek “moiroloi” (laments) as a template, Cools will discuss how many artistic expressions can be considered contemporary laments. Referencing Judith Butler’s notion of “equal grievability”, Cools will focus on a younger generation of artists who are dealing with “climate grief” or forms of state violence and lament their future.
Guy Cools will give a performance/lecture to sketch the context of his book, and after a short break, the programme will be continued by an illustrated lecture with examples from one chapter of his book Lamenting the Future.
is a dance dramaturge currently living in Vienna. From 1990 to 2002, he curated the dance programme of the Arts Centre Vooruit in Ghent, Belgium. As a production dramaturge, he worked with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Alexander Gottfarb, Akram Khan, Arno Schuitemaker, and Stephanie Thiersch. His publications include In-between Dance Cultures: on the migratory artistic identity of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Akram Khan (2015); Imaginative Bodies, dialogues in performance practices (2016) and Performing Mourning. Laments in Contemporary Art (2021).
In English