Department of Comparative Literature
Panel Discussion
How to do things with words when publishing on performance?
Kai Tuchmann and Anuja Ghosalkar are currently creating the scaffolding of their book on histories and practices of documentary theatre in India. They understand this project as an expansion of their own curatorial work into the field of writing. Their curatorial focus lies outside the particular theatrical production: on the interactions performances have with the public sphere. Together with an esteemed panel of theatremakers, curators and editors, they will discuss the question: What strategies and approaches might allow one to extend such a curatorial gesture into a book.
Panelists:
Kai Tuchmann, Dramaturge, Director and Academic
Anuja Ghosalkar, Writer and Director, Founder of Drama Queen
Amitesh Grover, Associate Professor, National School of Drama (India)
Nishant Shah, Professor of Global Media and Director of the Digital Narratives Studio, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Arushi Vats, Writer
Zhao Chuan, Theatremaker, Writer and Founding Member of the Shanghai-based Theatre Collective Grass Stage
Moderator:
Daniel Elam
Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, School of Humanities, HKU
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Time: 5:00-6:30 pm (Hong Kong Time)
Venue: On Zoom
All are welcome. Registration is required.
Kai Tuchmann and Anuja Ghosalkar are the co-curators of the first international workshop series on Documentary Theatre in India called Starting Realities that programmed artists like Gobsquad Collective, Boris Nikitin, and Zhao Chuan through 2018-19. Currently they are editing a book on the history of Documentary Theatre in India, that will be published in 2024 by Hong Kong University Press.
Kai Tuchmann works as a dramaturge, director and academic. He has researched the history of dramaturgy as a Fulbright Scholar at the Graduate Center of the City University New York, and is a Fellow of the Mellon School of Theatre at Harvard University. His stagings and dramaturgies were invited, among others, to I Dance Hong Kong and the Zürcher Theatrespektakel.
Anuja Ghosalkar is the founder of Drama Queen—a Documentary theatre company, evolving a unique form of theatre in India since 2015. Her performances and workshops have been programmed by the University of Oxford, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Serendipity Arts Festival, among others. She is the 2022 research fellow at the archives of the National Centre for Biological Studies.
Amitesh Grover is an award-winning director and artist. He is the recipient of several awards and his work has been shown globally at venues including the Southbank Centre (London), Arts Centre (Melbourne), HKW Berlin (Germany), and The Hartell Gallery (U.S.), and in India at the Foundation of Indian Contemporary Art. He is currently an Associate Professor at the National School of Drama (India).
Nishant Shah is a Professor of Global Media and the Director of the Digital Narratives Studio at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and a knowledge partner with Point of View (Mumbai), and Digital Asia Hub (Singapore/Hong Kong. His most recent books include “Really Fake” (University of Minnesota Press, 2020).
Arushi Vats is a writer based in New Delhi, India. She is the associate editor for Fiction at Alternative South Asia Photography, and the recipient of the Momus – Eyebeam Critical Writing Fellowship 2021, and the Art Scribes Award 2021. She has conducted workshops on writing for Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, and Art Chain India. Her curatorial projects have focused on conceptions of image and power, and histories of resistance in South Asia.
Zhao Chuan works across theatre, literature, film and contemporary art. He is the founding member and mastermind of the Shanghai-based theatre collective Grass Stage (since 2005). His works include the Social Theater Trilogy (2006–2017), comprising World Factory, The Little Society, Madmen’s Stories, Unsettling Stones (2012). “Theatre of Contagion” is the new start of a series of works since the pandemic era in early 2020.
Enquiries: Georgina Challen – gchallen@hku.hk
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