THE
DIS/AGREEMENT PROJECT
A practice of humanization through 47 snapshots of attention.
LISTEN
PROJECT
ACTIONS
In conflict, our attention is often primarily on the gestures of attack and defense.
The Dis/Agreement Project invites attention to a broader spectrum of human gesture, to expand our sense of what matters in times and places of conflict.
In the project, ten artists from around the world engaged in spoken and physical conversations with people with whom they agreed and disagreed.
The gestures of the artists and their conversation partners– 47 people from 11 countries– were then transcribed into written and spoken language, creating choreographic distillations of experience to be again fleshed out into action by the minds of listeners and viewers.
ARTISTS
Mengfan Wang (China / Japan), Jakevis Thomason (South Carolina, United States), Valerie Oliveiro (Mni Sota Makoce, United States, Singapore), Jacquey Nyaminde (Nairobi, Kenya), Ani Javian (New Jersey, United States), Mayra Hernandez (Boston, United States), Dana Caspersen (Vermont/ Frankfurt), Isaac Blake (UK Romani Gypsy), Nour Barakeh (Syria/ Austria), and Jumana Al Refai (Kuwait).
MENGFAN:
Is it acceptable for you to live in a country that has censorship?
Will you get a COVID-19 vaccination out of consideration for your community?
JAKEVIS:
Does social media have more negative than positive contributions to the wellbeing of society?
VALERIE:
Must people, organizations, institutions or corporations be called out to be made accountable, as it is an important tool toward ending systemic oppression?
JACQUEY:
Is it acceptable for an adult woman to choose not to get married or not to have children?
ANI:
Do I have a responsibility to get the COVID-19 vaccine to protect other people?
MAYRA:
Should abortion be legal and easily accessible for all women?
Do you think it is valuable to punish children physically?
DANA:
Should school curriculums encourage students to explore how racism is, or is not, present in social structures, such as education, housing, health care, or criminal justice?
ISAAC:
Do older, LGBTQ+, disabled, and economically excluded Gypsies, Roma and Travelers currently benefit from equality policies that are aimed at older people, women, children, LGBTQ+ people, unemployed and out-of-work-or-training people, minority ethnic community funding and support for minority languages?
NOUR:
In order to reduce/ prevent climate change, should human beings accept substantial changes in lifestyle- for example, less flying, less meat-eating, less consumption?
JUMANA
Should people have the right to post any content on social media platforms?
DIALOGUE TOPICS
THE DIS/AGREEMENT PROJECT is a work from Dana Caspersen in collaboration with: Mengfan Wang, Jakevis Thomason, Valerie Oliveiro, Jacquey Nyaminde, Ani Javian, Mayra Hernandez, Isaac Blake, Nour Barakeh, and Jumana Al Refai.
With many thanks to our conversation partners:
ZHIGUANG, Beijing, China
YASSINE, Lebanon
XIAXIN, Jinshandian, China
WILLIAM, Boston, U.S.
THOMAS, Brooklyn, New York
TERESA, Rhode Island, U.S.
TAKESHA, South Carolina, U.S.
SIOBHAN, England
SAMANTHA JOHN, Nairobi, Kenya
SALLY, UK Romani Gypsy
RYAN, South Carolina, U.S.
RIZWAN, New Jersey, U.S.
RAJA, Brooklyn, New York
QING, Qingdao, China
QAMAR, Mni Sóta Makoce
ONESHIA, South Carolina
OLIVER, Boston, U.S.
MUNIRAH, Kuwait
MICHELLE, New Jersey, U.S.
MELVIN, Nairobi, Kenya
MARTIN, Austria
MARIAM, Kuwait
MARCELA, Mni Sóta Makoce (Minneapolis), U.S.
MAGNUS, Rhode Island, U.S.
LACEY, South Carolina, U.S.
JOHN, U.S.
IVAN, Croatia
IDDI, Nairobi, Kenya
HARADA, Asia
HADEEL, Kuwait
GUNDI, Austria
ÈSTÊBÁN, Welsh Kali
BRIANNA, California
ANWAAR, Kuwait
ANTHONY, Nairobi, Kenya
ALLISON, Welsh Romani
ADRIANE, Boston, U.S.
Voices in Action recording: Jumana Al Refai, Nour Barakeh, Dana Caspersen, Ani Javian, Èstêbán Mordecai, Jacquey Nyminde, Jakevis Thomason, Mengfan Wang
Video consultation: Adam Agostino
For more information on changing the conversation in conflict, please visit: danacaspersen.com
THE DIS/AGREEMENT PROJECT is supported by the Goethe Institutes of Boston & Chicago, the Dance Department of Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, the State University of N.J., USA, the National Performance Netz-Stepping Out, and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media in the program NEUSTART KULTUR, [aid program DIS-TANZEN/ tanz:digital/ DIS-TANZ-START] of the Dachverband Tanz, Germany.
