Monsters of Circumstances — Keynote by Xavier Le Roy
About Xavier Le Roy
Xavier Le Roy holds a PhD in molecular biology and has been working as an artist since 1991. He is also a professor at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies in Giessen, Germany. His early solo works were credited as ground-breaking, opening new perspectives in choreography. Motivated by the need for transformation, he creates with the desire to alter our understanding of dichotomies.
About This Event
Kicking off the third iteration of Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations — a live gathering of Per°Form Fellows, intersectional practitioners across diverse disciplines of curation, research, education, visual culture, and performance, presenting their strategies for activating contexts and communities — is The Mentor Series. It features eminent thought leaders from the global artistic and cultural landscapes in-conversation on trends, negotiations and directions in their respective fields.
Monsters of Circumstances
By and with: Xavier Le Roy
As articial creatures in the art world, are monsters built to frighten? Are they built from the intimate fears of their creators? Can we trace how monsters confront our fears? How do monsters embody the unknown? How do they represent things we fear or cannot control? What do monsters do for us, emotionally and/or intellectually?
Monsters may have escaped from fantasy worlds, books, films and theatrical stages. Once the camouflage of our fears, they may have migrated to live in the world of our current confusions, becoming the camouflages of our daily lives.
This performance is derived from a lecture made for the conference on “the staging of monstrous bodies and orders”. The monstrosity of its form and content pushed it out of the conference room to meet other spectators, and worlds other than the academy, in an attempt to diffract our present world. A world in which monsters have emerged from certain actions to intrude on our daily lives, to be among us, and within us. This performance looks at how monsters are made. This conference creates monsters, to generate a situation in which we are invited to re-evaluate our view of the other, our relationship to the strange, between the unacceptable and the acceptable, between the desirable and the undesirable.
And if we accept that monsters can help us pose the question of what is acceptable or desirable in human beings and in social contracts, could they help us create a utopian and desired environment? Could they build relationships between beings and help us overcome our fears of others and of the possible collapses that surround, approach and sometimes haunt us?
Production: Association Le Kwatt
Co-production: Halle Tropisme
With the support of DRAC Ile-de-France - compagnie conventionnée.
Register
POA Closing Studio: Exhibitions and Embodiments with Xavier Le Roy
Donation Ticketing
Inclusivity is a core value of Per°Form Open Academy. Tickets to The Mentor Series and Workshop programmes at Per°Form Open Academy will be on a donation basis, starting at a minimum suggested donation of $5 per ticket.
If you are in a position to give more, please consider further contributions towards this and future iterations of Per°Form Open Academy. Your contributions, no matter big or small, help us mount Per°Form Open Academy and enable a gathering of international arts practitioners and cultural innovators in Singapore. Details are in the donation portal below.
Admission Rules
Rating / Age Limit
- No age limit for registration.
- All other admissions are subject to valid registration tickets produced at the entrance.
Photography / Video Recording Rules
- Please note that photographs and videos of patrons may be taken at the event for use in our archival and publicity materials.
Refund Policy
- All donations are non-refundable.
Wheelchair Users
- 72-13 is wheelchair-accessible and includes limited wheelchair seating. Please contact us at 6737 7213 to book wheelchair seats.
Contact Us
- For more information on Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations, visit performfellowship.org.
- For any enquiries, please email perform@tworksasia.org or call at 6737 7213.
About Per°Form Open Academy of Arts + Activations
Per°Form Open Academy of Arts + Activations (POA), T:>Works’ pioneering platform on thought leadership in the arts, returns 7–28 February 2025. POA 2025 brings together some of the most respected and renowned figures at the intersection of arts and social responsibilities. Drawing on their decades-long practices to address issues of minority, disability, gender, sexuality, cultural representation, and stakeholder and public engagement, they challenge conventional perceptions on what is possible today.
Portrait and banner: Images courtesy of Xavier Le Roy.