Lecture Tina Lenz

The gift as it occurs in cultures is fundamentally a social exchange and part of a highly ritualized cycle of giving, receiving and returning. These networks of exchange are driven by a principle that anthropologists have labelled with the term ‘reciprocity’: asking for a favour creates the expectation of a return favour (Mauss, 2000). How can ceremonial gift-giving be both, positive and negative? And which spiritual gifts do we humans exchange between the profane world (daily life) and the sacred world?

Design anthropologist Tina Lenz creates zones of improvisation and invites people into a design process. Existing conditions, places and rituals are collectively mapped, visualized and reimagined to discover possible alternative futures. Discover more about her design research:
www.designanthropology.nl

5 Amazing ways to help clean and heal your Chakra
In March 150 first and second year students from ArtEZ University of the Arts (music-theatre makers, actors, dancers, musicians and visual artists) come together for a week to exchange knowledge. The common goal – taking care of an evening-filling program for a public at the end of the week – serves as a stepping stone and catalyst for interdisciplinary cooperation.
The guest teachers Sascha van Riel (theatre set and lighting designer), Rosell Heijmen and Jessica Helbach (the last two form the art collective Suze May Sho) have based their professional practices on embracing interdisciplinary collaboration. Convinced of the usefulness of non-disciplinary knowledge, they want to add an extra layer to the mix of students and disciplines disguised as a theme: ‘5 Amazing ways to help clean and heal your Chakra’ is both a serious invitation to the students to relate to rituals, silence and meaning and leaves enough room for resistance. By means of sound, text, sense of touch and image, students will give shape to new rituals for themselves, each other and the spectator in 15 minutes performances to presented on March 15 (more information soon).