Panel:
Didik Nini Thowok
Ishvara Devati
Joned Suryatmoko
River Lin 

Moderator:
Linda Mayasari 

Dance works that display gender expressions outside the binary are often framed as forms of artistic expression related to issues of equality and human rights. The interests of the international performing arts market often simplify the complexity of cultural layers, power relations, and political economy of these works to make them easier for audiences to understand. On the one hand, this approach can strengthen movements and awareness related to gender and social justice in society. However, on the other hand, ignoring the complexity of these works reduces the subject to a certain category and uproots artistic expression from its context.

This causes these works to lose their potential as sources of critical knowledge about the bodily and cultural experiences of a particular context, and instead strengthens the exoticization of the Other. This discussion session will discuss a number of questions related to how performing arts festivals can anticipate these challenges, as well as how to open up a wider understanding that non-binary is not only a form of expression, but also a critical perspective for understanding social reality in relation to the dynamics of power, race, and class.

No reservation needed. Register on the spot.