In the Mirror of Care Work

In the Mirror of Care Work: A two-day symposium and publication release

In the Mirror of Care Work investigates skill-sets within Nordic interactive performance practices. The knowledge is shared by the use of a mirror; on one side, the work of interactive performers – on the other, the work of nurses. By inviting in perspectives of care workers and looking into the history of their profession, we engage discussions about the politics, mythologies and poetics of ours. Do we as performers – like the nurses were once said to – abide by the feeling of a calling? And does this involve a kind of spiritual care for our audience? What would it mean for the field of interactive performance if we, like nurses, started to be viewed as a profession of our own? 

This two-day performance symposium invites professionals in the fields of performers and care workers to take part in the project's methods of storytelling and performative interviews, reading sessions with texts from the project's publication, and poetic score works for collective reflections

In the Mirror of Care Work is initiated by performance artist Inga Gerner Nielsen with a knowledge production team consisting of choreographer, Ar Utke Acs, and publisher Nat Marcus. 

The project is a collaboration with the Nursing Education at UCN (DK), MadHouse Helsinki (FI) and m-cult Institute of Care (FI), MDT (SE) and Tabloid Press (DE) and is supported by Nordisk Kulturfond.

Programme

5 September – Sharing methods and experiences with care workers

13.00 - 16.00  WORKSHOP with interactive performers, nurses and others with care work experience. 

How do you encounter an audience in one-to-one interactions? How do you encounter a patient? And how do we share these skills and ways of working with each other?

The workshop begins with an “interactive warm-up” by visual artist Josefina Björk, who will introduce us to the set-up of her one-to-one performance piece show me yours / and I’ll show you mine.  

We will then continue exploring ways for us to show the choreography / somatic dramaturgy of how we each work professionally with the encounter and building instant intimate relations of trust. 

The workshop is free of charge and is for professional performers with experience or interest of interactive/immersive performance. Sign up for this workshop by emailing mariana@mdtsthlm.se.

17 - 19.30  LAUNCH of the In The Mirror of Care Work publication in the Reading edge library 

The launch includes a reading of two texts from the publication by interactive performer Josefina Björk and teacher of the History of Nursing, Helle Kronborg Krogsgaard.

Director of the Reading edge library, Izabella Borzecka, will host a conversation centred around how to make a publication into a shared container for readers and writers from two seemingly very different professions. What is the method of the mirror? How does it produce knowledge about working with one-to-one interactions? When does the mirror of care work collapse?

After the conversation, the evening will continue in one of the studios where you will be met by a performative presentation of the publication and guided into collective scores of thinking together. 

The launch is open to everyone interested.

19.30 - 21.00 DINNER and conversing

Simple, nourishing, plant-based food from cook Sal Reis Trouxa.

The dinner is open to all and free of charge. Spots are limited so please sign up by emailing mariana@mdtsthlm.se. If you have any allergies or food sensitivities please let us know at least one week in advance.

6 September: Care for the (performer as) Caregiver

Due to unforeseen circumstances there has been a change to the programme, which means that the workshop at 11 o'clock has been cancelled. This means that the second day of the symposium In the Mirror of Care Work will begin at 13:30 instead.

11 - 12.30 WORKSHOP in Post-liminal Care (CANCELLED)

During the workshop we will work with hands-on tools to deal with the time that follows a performance production. The workshop will include collective interviews: Post-liminal blues interviews guided by Inga Gerner Nielsen. Which states do you fall into? What do you need? 

13.30 - 15.30 BRIEFING by Red Nurse briefing & LECTURE on the history of Nursing 

The presentation will begin with a poetic briefing for the day held by The Red Nurse in the MDT foyer. The Red Nurse is an alter-ego of Ar Utke Acs who works with the emotional aspects of care and will offer a recap as well as a presentation of the program for the day.

A lecture with nursing teacher Helle Kronborg Krogsgaard on the history of both nurses and their predecessors, the nun, will make for a backdrop for discursive and artistic reflections on the politics and poetics of performance in the mirror of care work. 

The briefing and lecture is open to everyone interested.

16.00 - 17.30 CONVERSATION: Caring for the caregiver
+ Performance of circles of care by Inga Gerner Nielsen

Readings from the In The Mirror of Care Work publication and collective score for talking about what it means for us – and what we need if we view our artistic practice as care work? Which kind of institutions does performance as care work need? 

The conversation is open to everyone interested.

Credits

Credits, performance symposium

Initiator: Inga Gerner Nielsen.

Symposium developed and hosted by: Ar Utke Ács and Inga Gerner Nielsen.

Facilitated in collaboration with performers Josefina Björk, Noah Hellwig, Majula Drammeh and nursing teachers Helle Kronborg Krogsgaard and Sanne Holm (UCN Hjørring). 

The publication launch is facilitated in collaboration with Izabella Borzecka (PAM) and Reading edge library.

Credits, publication

Edited by Inga Gerner Nielsen with Ar Utke Ács. Editorial management, book design and graphics: Nat Marcus. Drawings by Marit Benthe Norrheim. Text contributions: Kim Skjoldager-Nielsen, Helle Kronborg Krogsgaard, Josefina Björk, Tina Nielsen, Noah Hellwig, Ann Karenina Kløve Møller, Louisa Yaa Aisin, Elvira Crois, Majula Drammeh, Vienne Chan, Tyra Wigg, Rikke Steen Mapstone, Ar Utke Ács, Nat Marcus and Inga Gerner Nielsen.

The project is supported by Nordisk Kulturfond, Den Jyske Kunstfond, Region Nordjylland, Hjørring Kommune, UMMK and Reflex. The performance symposium is a part of a series in collaboration with MDT, UCN, Region Nordjylland and Madhouse Helsinki. Contact person and assistance at MDT: Mariana My Suikkanen Gomes.