Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics
First Annual Seminar
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2000

The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics held its first annual seminar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2-15, 2000. Participants included artists, scholars, graduate students, and activists. This eclectic and culturally diverse group, from countries throughout the Americas, captured the spirit of this year's conference: to provide a forum that encourages an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between performance and politics from diverse cultural perspectives.

From the escrache in downtown Rio de Janeiro--that protested the 1970s dictatorships of Brazil and Argentina and U.S. involvement--to the round table discussions on such topics as "race and popular performance", participants were able to engage in the various ways we can think about and perform political contestation and struggle.

The seminar was organized around morning workshops, afternoon mini-seminars and panels, and evening performances. In the middle of the seminar was a three-day conference, July 7-9, which highlighted scholarly work on various related topics. Such topics included "performance and public space"; "performance and homoeroticism"; and "performance and pedagogy".

Our first annual seminar was an exciting and dynamic exchange that we hope to continue with the future seminars in Monterrey, México (2001), and Lima, Peru (2002). We believe that the non-traditional conference format of workshops, informal round-table discussions, and the extended time of at least one week, makes our seminar a unique opportunity to truly establish connections and build relationships with others throughout the Americas. It is in these relationships that our larger project rests.

We encourage new participants to join us for our upcoming seminar this June in México. And, to all those who helped make our first seminar a success we hope to see you again. For a fuller description of what took place and who participated, please follow the links above or from the side menu bar. Also, see the México section for applying to the upcoming seminar.

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