by Ani Encheva “The multiple dimensions that make up objects also make up ourselves, as well as our categories. Telling the stories of an object therefore begins unpacking our own clichés, our certainties, our affects.” – Joseph Dumit (2014, 349) In encountering the inflatable frogs and clowning artefacts that populate contemporary protest, we are invited…

On November 25th, Dr. Tamara Borovica (RMIT University) will lead the workshop “Affective Cartographies: Sensing and Mapping Climate Emotions”, hosted by the Futures + Literacies + Methods Lab. Dr. Tamara Borovica has designed Affective Cartographies as a practice-led workshop that explores how we can think, feel, and know through the body. Using body mapping as…

What remains of a person after death? And what happens when technology becomes a means to fill that void? Technology as a tool for grief The theatre performance Roman & ELIZA by Ulrike Quade Company is about technology as a tool for grief, and relationships between humans and griefbots. The performance is inspired by the…

In this session, Liesbeth Groot Nibbelink (UU) and Sigrid Merx (UU) will discuss their book project Simulation, Speculation and Futurity in Contemporary Dramaturgy: From ‘As If’ to ‘What If’ in European Performance Practice (forthcoming). The project originated from the observation of a growing interest in fictionality, simulation, and speculation in contemporary European theatre and performance….

While comedians are often described as “truth-tellers,” the relationship between comedy and truth-telling is typically taken for granted. But what do we mean when we say that comedians “speak truth”? How can comedic speech be truthful? What “truth regimes,” to borrow a term from Michel Foucault, govern their work? In a post-truth world in which…

In an era of profound social, economic, and environmental challenges, cultural leadership through cultural democracy offers a critical pathway toward building resilient, inclusive societies. The transformative role of socially engaged arts fosters democratic agency, bridging ideological divides, and amplifying marginalized voices. The democratization of culture requires rethinking the frameworks that define cultural value, encouraging active…

Operating at the intersection of creative practice, cultural management, and politics, Anne Breure has many years of experience in navigating institutional entanglements. A critical thinker, passionate speaker, and decisive cultural leader, she has questioned and challenged conventional structures within the arts sector and initiated new cultural policies. As an enthusiastic speaker, she is a much…

  This session of the TiM seminar brings together four scholars and one artist/writer for a collaborative exploration of performance-oriented research into the histories and futures of Lunar exploration and exploitation. Informed by diverse backgrounds and practices, we have, each in our own way, developed research that engages with the entanglements of earthly and outer…

‘Object Orientation’ is an integrative method that uses objects to bring together perspectives. After all, objects are indifferent to the ways in which perspectives have been institutionalized. They have come into being through dynamic combinations or intersections of perspectives, and they compel us to combine or interweave perspectives when we engage with them. The method…

Transmission in Motion Seminar (2025-2026): “Navigating Entanglements” During the final session of last year’s TiM seminar on “Implicatedness”, Maria Hlavajova spoke about the complex nature of institutions as both restricting and enabling. Organizations and social and cultural systems impose things through rules, sanctions, social control, and informal norms. On the other hand, institutions provide the laws and regulations