Accessibility, Responsibility, and Care in the Performing Arts From SNF project ‘Aesthetics of the Im/mobile’

2pm–2.30pm
Welcome

Yvonne Schmidt
Nina Mühlemann
Thubten Shontshang

2.30pm–3.45pm
Lecture Performance

‘The Im/mobile Practice of a Conversation’
Anouk Mirte Hoogendoorn
Yvonne Schmidt

3.45pm–4.15pm
Break
 

4.15pm–5.45pm
Podium

‘Micropolitics of Care’
Alexandrina Hemsley (online)
Alessandro Schiattarella
Louise Westerhout
Moderation: Nina Mühlemann

5.45pm–7pm
Apéro + Installations
 

Theaterfestival per Post (DE)

‘aua comes your way’ (2020)
‘aua in a box’ (2021)

auawirleben Theaterfestival Bern
Curated by: Barbara Schmid & Silvan Müller

How can theatre be produced when the very basis for it (meeting in a space) is no longer given?
aua comes your way was an answer from the auawirleben theatre festival in Bern during the closure of the cultural sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The already programmed artists were invited to think of ways to transform their performance into the form of a letter, that could be sent to the audience’s home.
aua in a box was planned as a pandemic-compatible alternative programme in times of constantly changing regulations in spring 2021. Conducted as a parallel festival at home, people who had to – or wanted to – stay at home as well as regular visitors could order an aua in a box to their homes.
(This installation contains mostly written German, that will not be translated.)

 

Video + Objects‘

Molecular Translations’ (2025) by Kamran Behrouz

Molecular Translations is an installation capturing the unison of queers, crips, and Mermaids. This video installation is based on a symbiotic exercise developed in collaboration with Criptonite and materialized into the performance Creature Comfort (2023). A collective of disabled and neurodivergent artists embraced a map – painted as a multifaceted fictional character – and translated it back into the space, where each actor of the collective lived within an autonomous organ of this larger fictional body. All performances in each organ began simultaneously, creating multi-layered events, guided by the motto: joy of missing out. Questioning the meaning of belonging, this practice re-contextualizes accessibility as different forms of translation. It is a practice that relies on parallel modes of translation – part of its constant flow, not a secondary or additional alternative.

9.30am–10.30am
Arriving + Installations
 

10.30am–12am
PODIUM

‘Structural Transformation’
Fabienne Mathis
Noa Winter 
Nicolette Kretz
Moderation: Yvonne Schmidt

12am–1.30pm
Lunch Break

1.30pm–2.45pm
Talk

‘Cripping Institutions’
Noa Winter
Nina Mühlemann

2.45pm–3.15pm
Break
 

3.15pm–5.15pm
Workshop I

‘Glitchy Adjustments …’
Tanja Erhardt (online)
Flor Méchain (presence)

hybrid: Connecting ZZT – Centre for Contemporary Dance in Cologne via screen and sound, in spoken english with english subtitles.

Glitchy adjustments is a hybrid dance workshop where we will explore irregularities and interruptions in our electronic systems as well as our very own fleshy vessels and bodyminds through interactions, counteractions, rest and stillness. This will shape how we relate to our individual bodyminds, each other in space, and across electronic frequencies. In the end we will have a chance to get creative with all this and discover ourselves rooted in a perpetual glitching dance.

Access:
The movement based workshop will be held in spoken english alongside english audio including english subtitles. Interactive moments are not compulsory to take part in. Participation seated as well as standing is possible. The room in which the workshop takes place is lit with neons.

Workshop II

‘Collective Singularities’
Alessandro Schiattarella

Collective Singularities is a participatory dance workshop investigating synchronicity without uniformity. Open to all bodies and experience levels, this method infiltrates mainstream dance culture with a radical proposition: movement as shared language; where collective forms breathe alongside personal expression.

We’ll begin with guided improvisation to awaken the body and let go inhibitions. Gradually, we’ll co-create movement scores, discovering group rhythms that are interwoven yet distinct, like moles across skin: irregular, unique, yet composing a delicate pattern. The session closes with reflective sharing and feedback round.

No experience needed; all ‘pirouettes’ (literal or imagined) are welcome! Just bring comfortable clothes

Access:
Held in spoken English with optional translation (Italian / French / Russian / Greek / Neapolitan + basic German). Experimental live English subtitles provided. Participation can be adapted to the participants – no compulsory touch or proximity. Wheelchair-accessible space with adjustable lighting.

Workshop III

‘Cartographies of Care: Mapping Micropolitics’
Kamran Behrouz
Thubten Shontshang

By revisiting the notion of ‘micropolitics’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980), this workshop highlights the inaccessibility of language (theory) in exploring various translations of this concept into a tangible framework (cartography). Inaccessibility often correlates with a lack of care. To navigate a society is to recognize the networks of care that make it accessible – yet these networks often remain invisible.
Using defined cartographic techniques, this workshop invites each participant to map their chosen city – whether their current home or a former one.
Through chartography and mapping relations, the workshop participants visualize these networks of care to facilitate a practical understanding and critical reflection on the micropolitics of care.

Access:
In this workshop, we will work visually and with maps and reflect on care. We are hoping for interactive exchange formats. Inputs will be given in spoken English. There will be little/no movement, working at a table or on the floor is possible.

5.15pm–6pm
Feedback

Edwin Ramirez
Annemarie Hahn 
Robert Stock

We aim to make our symposium accessible to as many people as possible. We therefore endeavour to take various needs into account. We realise that not all needs can be fully covered. If you have any questions or concerns or need support, please contact us by sending a message to thubten.shontshang@hkb.bfh.ch

How to get there

The symposium will take place at Bern University of the Arts, 300 metres from the trainstation Bümpliz Nord. Travelling by public transport from Bern railway station, take the S5 / S52 in the direction of Murten or Neuchâtel to Bern Bümpliz Nord station, then leave the station subway in the direction of Bethlehem/Tscharnergut. The route is signposted.
BLS trains are accessible without steps. Bümpliz Nord station has a lift. Wheelchair users must pre-register the train 1 hour before travelling.

Address

Grosse Aula, Fellerstrasse 11, 3027 Bern

Parking

There are visitor parking spaces available on the site for a fee.

Access to the building

With the exception of individual offices (not relevant for the symposium), the entire building is wheelchair accessible. The former freight lift of the former factory building can be operated autonomously. The lift is rather noisy.

Toilets

There are gender-neutral toilets at the event (basement floor). Two toilets are wheelchair-accessible. The washbasins are located outside the cubicles. The seats are not raised. There is one fixed grab rail on the right in one toilet and fold-up grab rails on both sides in the other. The door width is 80 cm.

Further information on access and infrastructure on site

• The building and all rooms of the symposium are wheelchair accessible
• An AccessFriend is on site as a contact person for questions and assistance needs
• COVIDTest or FFP2 masks mandatory and available. If you have contagious symptoms of illness, we ask you to stay at home.
• A limited number of beanbags and cushions are available.
• The rooms are all lit by neon tubes

Quiet / Relaxed Spaces

A separate low-stimulus retreat room (room 234) with stim toys is available.