Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations 2025 (POA), T:>Works’ cultural touchpoint returns with its third iteration. Following the successful live gatherings of Per°Form Fellows from the Global South in 2023 and 2024, this year’s edition features a line-up of 17 Per°Form Fellows. They include eminent thought leaders and cultural innovators across diverse fields of contemporary indigeneity, curation, research, education, visual culture, disability-access, and performance. These Fellows will present their strategies for activating contexts and communities, raising provocative possibilities for staying alive in these uncertain times. Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations 2025 comprises three components:
  • 7–22 February: The Mentor Series and Public Workshop by Marc Brew featuring leading voices in transformative practices 
  • 12–15 February: POA Opening Studio: Contemporary Indigeneity, a week-long immersive engagement with the arts, social-political and heritage ecologies of Nepal with eight diverse indigenous artists from collectives ArTree Nepal and Kalā Kulo
  • 24–28 February: POA Closing Studio: Embodiments and Exhibitions helmed by conceptual artist and choreographer Xavier Le Roy, examining the effects of generated movement materials on the qualities of relationships between performers and between spectators and performers



7–8 February: The Mentor Series
With Anselm Franke and Shermin Langhoff



 Participate

We kick off The Mentor Series with presentations by Anselm Franke and Shermin Langhoff.

Anselm Franke is a curator and author. From 2013 till 2022, he was head of the visual arts and film department at Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin (HKW). He is known for developing the format of the 'essay exhibition', which consist of extensive research-based forays into political and cultural histories and current artistic production.

Shermin Langhoff, Artistic Director of Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin, is a trailblazer in German theatre. Born in Turkey and migrated to Germany as a child, she initiated and champions post-migrant theatre, reflecting Berlin's diverse reality. Long before leading the Gorki, Shermin was an integral part of a movement that brought artists of colour and marginalized voices to the forefront.
12–15 February: POA Opening Studio
With Bishal Yonjan, Hit Man Gurung, Indu Tharu, 
Lavkant Chaudhary, Mekh Limbu, Priyankar Bahadur Chand, 
Sheelasha Rajbhandari, and Subas Tamang



 Participate

POA Opening Studio is a week-long immersive engagement with the arts, social-political and heritage ecologies of Nepal. ArTree Nepal is a collective of five diverse indigenous artists who intersect with the younger collective Kalā Kulo and an independent writer working on histories and archives. These individuals — Bishal Yonjan (Tamang Indigenous People), Hit Man Gurung (Gurung Indigenous People), Indu Tharu (Tharu Indigenous People), Lavkant Chaudhary (Tharu Indigenous People), Mekh Limbu (Limbu Indigenous People), Priyankar Bahadur Chand, Sheelasha Rajbhandari (Newa Indigenous People), and Subas Tamang (Tamang Indigenous People) — spotlight indigenous narratives, grounded on issues surrounding reclamation of rights, equity, and sustenance of identity and culture. 
Their practices offer distinct approaches on navigating limitations and developing ground-up activations that effectively and sensitively engage resources and voices from the indigenous communities of Nepal as they nuance mutual relationships between the human and non-human.
17–22 February: The Mentor Series and Workshop
With Anne Bogart, Marc Brew, Gridthiya Gaweewong, 
Labay Eyong (Lin Gieh-wen), Vivian Ziherl, Pooja Sood, and Xavier Le Roy



 Participate

The Mentor Series strides into the third week of POA 2025 with esteemed lineup of artists, curators, and artistic directors unremittingly innovating the global artistic and cultural landscape in their fields, and beyond. Drawing on their decades-long practices, they will address issues of cultural representation, stakeholder and public engagement, and challenge conventional perceptions on what is possible today.

Not to be missed: Public Workshop by Marc Brew invites artists, educators, and facilitators who are keen to develop their practice in leading inclusive dance in a supportive environment for disabled and non-disabled artists.
24–28 February: POA Closing Studio
With Xavier Le Roy



 Participate

POA Closing Studio is a fully subsidised work-in-studio exploration with acclaimed contemporary artist and choreographer Xavier Le Roy. Working on 2 or 3 movement materials, as well noises and specific modes of embodiment, this workshop examines the alternating roles of performer and spectator. Participants explore and reflect on how the materials generated can produce specific qualities of relationship between the performers, and between the spectators and the performers, i.e. how one choreographs the other and vice versa.