TURBA

The Journal for Global Practices in Live Arts Curation

Co-Editors:
Tawny Andersen: McGill University, Canada / Marie Sklodowska-Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
Sandeep Bhagwati: Concordia University, Canada / Ensemble Extrakte & Ensemble Sangeet Prayog Pune, Canada/Germany
Victoria Carrasco: Wesleyan University, USA / PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, Canada
Dena Davida : Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada / Dance curator & choreographer, writer and editor, educator and researcher, Canada
Barbara Scales: Latitude 45 Arts, Canada / Centre de Musique Canadienne au Québec, Canada
Yves Sheriff: 3rd Floor Projects at Usine C, Canada

Managing Editor: Dena Davida


View Inaugural Table of Contents & Excerpts


TURBA 3.1 Call for Papers - “Exhibiting Liveness"

Latest Issue Table of Contents

Volume 2 (2023): Issue 1 (Mar 2023)

TURBA Vol. 2, Issue 2
Speaking Curation to Power
Table of Contents


Editorial
Liberating Curation

Re/Visiting
Revisiting “Collective Walks / Spaces of Contestation: Site-Specificity, Community Involvement, and Mobility Employed as Curatorial Strategies in the Creation of Participatory Performances” from Curating Live Arts (2018)
Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte (Canada)

Empowering Platforms, Raising a Non-Army in Thailand: Presentation at The Young Curators’ Academy (2018) + New Interview with TURBA
Sasapin Siriwanij (Thailand)

New Research
Breaking the Refugee Mold through Curation
Emmanuel Chima (USA/Malawi) + Mathanamohan Subthinga (India), Abdullahi Yussuf (UK) (peer-reviewed)

Beyond Mystery and Authority: The Curators-Who-Are-Not-Artistic-Directors
Brandon Farnsworth (Canada/Sweden) (peer-reviewed)

To Repeat Also Means Getting Ahead: The Artistic Potential of Pre-Enactment
Cassandre Langlois (France) (peer-reviewed)

Curatorial Crisis on Display: Mediating Dance Festivals of Dance in Contemporary India
Amritha Sruthi Radhakrishnan (India) (peer-reviewed)

Interviews and conversations
Falling Skies: Sharing Perspectives on the Current Discourse of Sustainability and Equity in Transnational Curation and Cooperation in Live Arts
Epona Hamden (Germany/Lebanon) + Juma Pariri (Pindorama/Brazil)

Curating Social Experiments: Knut Ove Arntzen Interviews Jingyi Wang about the Static Theater Project and the Value Series of Performative Events
Knut Ove Arntzen (Norway) + Jingyi Wang (Norway/China)

Silence (Re)Sounds: A Conversation between Raimund Rosarius and Artist and Curator Cai Qing on China's White Paper Movement
Raimund Rosarius (Germany/Austria) + Cai Qing (China)

Vantage Points: Essays, Critical Perspectives, Field Notes, and a Manual
The Affective Community of Art: On Transformative Territories by Rodolfo Andaur
Mariagrazia Muscatello (Italy/Chile)

Vibrant Art-Making in an Ambivalent Domain
Ndèye Mané Toure (Senegal)

The Power Dynamics of Gratitude
Francesco Venturi (Italy)

Curating KPIs for Disincorporation (A Workers’ Tutorial)
Benjamin Ross Nicholson (USA)

C(ur)atalyzing a Pluriverse in iRhini Grahamstown Makhanda
Gavin Krastin (South Africa)

In What Condition Do We Leave the Past?
Omar Rajeh (Lebanon)

Underground
Saman Hajimohammad (Iran/USA)

LICHT and the Dangerous Theater
Tea Tupajić (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia)

Book Reviews
Politics of Curatorship: Collective and Affective Interventions
Monia Acciari (Germany) & Philipp Rhensius (UK), (eds.)
Louise Jashil R. Sonido (Philippines)

Uncurating Sound: Knowledge with Voice and Hands
By Salomé Voegelin (UK)
Ed McKeon (UK

Volume 2 / 2023, 2 issues per volume (spring, autumn)

Aims & Scope

TURBA is the first journal for the study, practice, documentation analysis, and theorization of live arts curation.

TURBA: crowd, multitude;  uproar, disturbance, tumult; twirl, move around; soil, earth.

TURBA is the first journal for the study, theory, and praxis of curatorial strategies in the live arts. The live arts are broadly defined as those arts in which contingent, momentary acts and events, performed by human or other autonomous agents, are crucial to the aesthetic perception and the emergence of meaning in ephemeral time-based work. They include, but are not limited to, dance, music, sound art, theatre, performance art, verbal arts, circus arts, live media arts and inter-arts performance works. With this journal, we aim to create a platform for the exploration of ideas, concepts, constraints, expectations, and contingencies which guide and drive curatorial practices in these fields.

Within the live arts, the term “curation” is used in a manner that is largely, but not entirely, analogous to its use in the visual arts.[1] The Latin root of the word “curation” is curare, meaning “to take care of” or “to heal.” Live arts curators mediate the intellectual, societal, and aesthetic contexts, as well as the presentational models, which support the development, dissemination, and reception of artistic work. They negotiate relationships between artists, artistic works, audiences, administrators, archives, the media, and society. With TURBA, we aim to foster a community of critical discourse about live arts curation across traditions, genres, communities, generations, cultures, disciplines, and aesthetics.

We seek to connect, amplify, and contextualize movements and voices, thus making TURBA a seismographic observatory for the impact of the live arts on societies and cultures around the globe.

 

[1] In the visual arts, the term “curator” describes two different roles/professions: 1) someone who cares for, acquires, and manages an existing collection; 2) someone who conceptualizes a temporary exhibition of artworks.  Both correspond to curatorial roles in the live arts, but the first category --persons ensuring the persistence of a live arts tradition, an artist’s body of work, or a particular type of live art--are not usually called “curators”. Instead, they are usually called griots, opera directors, dance archivists and reconstructionists, Brechtians or Shakespearians, guardians of temple music etc. TURBA explicitly aims to include critical discourses around their work and practice, too.

 

Co-Editors

Tawny Andersen
   PhD., Art History, McGill University; Performance Theorist, Canada
   Marie Sklodowska-Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain

Sandeep Bhagwati
   Professor (Music), Director Matralab, Concordia University, Canada
   Music Director, Ensemble Extrakte & Ensemble Sangeet Prayog Pune, Canada/Germany

Victoria Carrasco
   Mngmt/Curator, Public Programs, PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, Canada
   M.A., Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP), Wesleyan University, USA

Dena Davida
   PhD. & Lecturer/ Faculty of Fine Arts/Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
   Dance Curator & Choreographer, Writer and Editor, Educator and Researcher, Canada

Yves Sheriff
   Independent Curator, 3rd Floor Projects at Usine C, Canada

Managing Editor

Dena Davida

Editor-at-large

Barbara Scales
   Founder/President, Latitude 45 Arts, Canada
   President, Centre de Musique Canadienne au Québec, Canada

Advisory Board

Knut Ove Arntzen
   PhD., Professor emeritus of theatre studies, University of Bergen, Norway
Silvia Bottiroli
   PhD., Independent Performance Arts Curator, Researcher and Educator, Italy
   Lecturer, Method, Criticism and Research in Artistic Disciplines, Università Bocconi, Italy

Ricardo Dal Farra
   Professor, Music Department, Concordia University, Canada
   Director, Balance-Unbalance (BunB) and Understanding Visual Music (UVM), Canada

Piersandra Di Matteo
 
 PhD., Lecturer on Curating Performing Arts, IUAV University of Venice, Italy 
   Performing arts theorist, dramaturge, lecturer and festival curator 

Bertie Ferdman
   PhD., Professor, Theater Studies, The Graduate Center & Borough Manhattan Community College, CUNY, USA
Rita Ferreira de Aquino
   PhD., Professor, Post-Graduate Dance Program, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil
   Director of Curator & Mediator Seminars, Bahia Festival, Brazil

Jennifer Fisher
   PhD., Professor, Art History, York University, Canada
   Co-editor/founder, Journal of Curatorial Studies, Canada

Sigrid Gareis
   M.A., Co-Director, Performing Arts Curation, Paris Lodron University, Austria
   Dance & theater curator, lecturer, book author & editor

Jens Richard Giersdorf
   PhD., Dance History and Theory, University of California; scholar, researcher
   Chair, Contemporary Dance Department, Concordia University, Canada 

Amelia Jones
   PhD., Art and performance historian, theorist, critic, professor, and curator
   Vice Dean, Roski School of Art & Design, University of Southern California, USA

André Lepecki
   PhD., Curator, Researcher in Dance Studies, Curatorial Practice, Performance Theory, USA
   Chair, Performance Studies, TISCH at New York University, USA

Keng Sen Ong
   PhD., Founding Director, International Curators Academy, Singapore
   Artistic Director, T:>Works, Singapore

Jay Pather
   Director, Institute for Creative Arts/University of Cape Town, South Africa
   Curator, Aftrovibes, Netherlands

Dylan Robinson
   PhD. in Music, Stó:lō scholar, Researcher in Indigenous Arts and Culture, Canada
   Associate Professor, School of Music, University of British Columbia, Canada

Alma Salem
   Founder, Alma Salem Bureau for Curation and Cultural Advisory, Syria/Canada
Tom Sellar
   DFA, Professor, Yale School of Drama, Independent Curator, Critic, Journal Editor, USA
   Editor, Theater Magazine, Yale University, USA

Noémie Solomon
   PhD., Independent Curator, Dramaturg, Book Editor in Dance, Canada
   Director, Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance, Wesleyan University, USA

Cyril Thomas 
   M.A., Circus Exhibition Curator, Researcher & Writer in Circus Arts and New Art Forms, France
   Director, École du Cirque de Rosny-Sous-Bois, France

Beatrice von Bismarck
   PhD., Curator, Anthology Editor; Co-founder, /D/O/C/K-Projekbereich Space, Germany
   Professor & Initiator, Cultures of the Curatorial/Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, Germany

Gordana Vnuk
   PhD., Founder & Artistic Director, Eurokaz Festival, Croatia
   Previously Theater Programmer, Chapter Arts Centre, UK

   Artisitc Dir, Kampnagel, Germany

Editorial Board

Funmi Adewole
   PhD., Dance Studies, Storyteller, Dramaturg, Researcher in African Diasporic Dance, UK
   Senior lecturer, Dance Department, De Montfort University, UK

Heloisa Amaral
   PhD. candidate, Artistic Researcher, Piano Solo Performer, Curator, Brazil/Portugal
   Lecturer, Curatorial Practices/Music/Royal Conservatory at Den Haag, The Netherlands

Rodolfo Andaur
   M.A., Art History, Independent curator, Cultural manager, Writer, Chile 
Lior Avizoor
   
Artistic director, BatSheva Dance Company, Israel
Clint Bracknell
   PhD., Musician, Songwriter & Music Researcher of Aboriginal Australian Song, Australia
   Associate Professor, The University of Queensland, Australia

Dana Dugan
   PhD. Candidate, Interdisciplinary Humanities Programme, Concordia University, Canada
   Creator, Performer, Dramaturg, Curator in the Circus Arts, Canada

Gurur Ertem
   PhD., 
Director of Programming and Research, Bimeras Berlin gGmbH, Germany
   Founding Co-director, Bimeras Projects, Turkey 
Brandon Farnsworth
   PhD., Independent Music Curator, Guest Lecturer, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Germany
   Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Musicology, Lund University, Sweden

Ashley Ferro-Murray
   PhD., Performance Studies and New Media, USA
   Theatre/Dance Curator, Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center, USA

Gustavo Fijalkow
   PhD., Performing Arts Curator, Dramaturg, Researcher, Germany
   Artistic Project Director, Forward Dance Company, Germany

Jane Gabriels
   PhD., Director, Dance West Network and Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative  
   Visiting Scholar/Temple University and Simon Fraser University, USA/Canada 

Amitesh Grover
   M.A., Performance-based Artist/Curator, Serendipity Arts Festival, India
   Assistant Professor, National School of Drama, India
Adham Hafez
   PhD. Candidate, Performance Studies, New York University, USA
   Founder, HaRaKa Movement & Performance Research, Egypt

Marta Keil
   PhD., Independent performing arts curator, dramaturg, researcher, Poland/Netherlands
   Curator,“Breaking the Spell”; teaches curation at Jagiellonian and Utrecht Universities 

Anna Kerekes
   PhD., Arts Writer/Critic; Senior Curator, MO.CO Montpellier Contemporain, France
   Chargée de Cours, École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Nimes, France

Juan Menchero
   PhD.
New York University; dramaturg/playwright, Spain/USA  
   Lecturer, Spanish & Portuguese Languages & Cultures/NYU, USA

Helly Minarti
   PhD., Independent curator/Scholar, Choreographic Historiographer, Indonesia
   Creator of the LINGKARENú Koreografi Research Platform on Choreography, Indonesia

Roselle Pineda
   PhD. Candidate; Artistic Director, Performance Curators Initiatives, Philippines
   Faculty, Department of Arts Studies, University of the Philippines at Dilman, Philippines
Anastasia Proshutinskaya
   M.A., Independent Dance Curator/Educator/Researcher, Russia
Alma Quintana
   M.A., ICPP, Director ¿Cómo encender un fósforo? Festival & Research Program, México
   Professor, National Folk Dance School, Claustro de Sor Juana University, México

Sarah-Louise Spies
   PhD., Independent curator, co-founder of Accumulations, UK 
   Researcher/senior lecturer, Contemporary dance, performance/live art, curation, ZHdK, Zurich 

Ken Takiguchi
   PhD., Manager, Setagaya Public Theatre, Japan
   Founder, Asian Dramaturgs’ Network, Japan
   Part-time lecturer, Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan

Fu Kuen Tang
   
Artistic and managing director, BIT Teatergarasjen, Norway
   Teacher, Theatre, Literature & Cultural Theory, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Francesco Venturi
   PhD. candidate, Kingston University, UK 
   Composer, performer, educator, researcher in voice studies; co-founder of Spettro, Italy 

Jingyi Wang
   M.A., Independent Performance-Creator/Curator, China/Norway

 

Submission

Please carefully review the submission and style guide before submitting.

TURBA invites submissions engaging with any tradition, genre, community, culture, discipline, artistic expression, or aesthetic in the live arts. The journal is particularly interested in featuring compelling, experimental, politically engaged, and transformative content that fosters critique and debate, expands knowledge, and provides socio-cultural and historical context for the evolving practices of live arts curation.

TURBA is open to a wide range of genres and formats. Contributions may include: academic papers for [double blind] peer review, critical essays, dialogic exchanges and transcribed group conversations, manifestos, reviews of publications and symposia, analyses of curatorial paradigms and events, poetry, images, notations and graphic representations, etc. They may also interweave such styles and epistemologies if this heterogeneity helps to better illuminate their subject matter.

TURBA welcomes writers in any language to submit texts, including texts previously published in other languages. Such texts must be accompanied by an English abstract and the first draft of a translation into English. Should the text be selected for publication, we will, if necessary, work with the author(s) on a final English version. The original language version, however, will usually be posted on the journal's resource pages.

Academic papers to be peer reviewed should be a maximum of 6,000 words and should be accompanied by a 150-word abstract. Please do not include your name in the article or the document’s metadata. Submit a 50-word biography on a separate page with accompanying image(s).

"Letter from [name of city, region or country]" is a regular feature written in a casual style. About 500 words long, these should be short reflections, reports, explanations, critical observations on something that is happening or has just happened in the writer's local area —a controversy, a new policy, the opening or closing of a venue, a travelling show or a text that have made waves, the death (or birth) of an influential live arts protagonist, a miracle or a scandal, etc.

Other submissions may be of any length but no longer than 3,000 words, and should include a 50-word biography in the main document, with accompanying image(s).

All text submissions should be submitted in Microsoft Word in 12-point Times New Roman and formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style.

All images must be submitted according to the Artwork guidelines on the Berghahn Journals Submissions page.

TURBA appears twice a year both in print and as an e-publication. In addition to two annual calls for specific issues with fixed deadlines, submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Send your contributions, queries, and questions to Dena Davida at turbajournal@gmail.com.


Ethics Statement

Authors published in TURBA certify that their works are original and their own. The editors certify that all materials, with the possible exception of editorial introductions, book reviews, and some types of commentary, have been subjected to blind peer review by qualified scholars in the field. While the publishers and the editorial board make every effort to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinions, or statements appear in this journal, they wish to make clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles herein are the sole responsibility of the contributor(s) concerned. For a more detailed explanation concerning these qualifications and responsibilities, please see the complete TURBA ethics statement.

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Volume 2/2023, 2 issues p.a. (spring, autumn)
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