Playground: Gathering Passport Blessing Ceremony

GATHERING: Passport Blessing Ceremony

Tuesday 17th of October  7-8:30pm

Playground Studio / Dachauer Straße 112d, München (Halle 6)

Passports have varying degrees of power. While certain passports allow travel to almost anywhere in the world without any hindrance, travel is heavily restricted for many citizens as certain countries have less powerful or blacklisted passports. This satirical ceremony/modern ritual is triggered by the intrusive processes citizens with less powerful passports have to face before entering another country, which further cement inequality based on country of origin and questions the specific socio-political hierarchies that are determined within the global community. 

Conceived as a part of „Dance Archive Box“ project as a commission for Singapore International Festival of Arts ’15. Also performed at NgBk Berlin ‘23, Alserkal Arts Foundation Dubai ‘23, Mousonturm, Frankfurt ‘22, NAF Makhanda South Africa ‘22, ‘Laiks Dejot, Riga, Latvia ’19, CREA conference Nepal ‘19, Asia Triennial Manchester ’18, Tiyatro Medresesi Turkey ’18, Galle Literary Festival’ 18, Colombo Art Biennale in Summerhall-Edinburgh Festival ’17, Galleri Konstepidemin, Sweden ’16 (Video Documentation), The Colombo Art Biennale ’16, The Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama,

Venuri Perera is an independent choreographer, performance artist, curator and facilitator from Colombo. Her work has dealt with violent nationalism, patriarchy, border rituals, colonial heritage and class. She explores the power dynamics of perception, anonymity, sensuality by subverting frameworks of ritual through performative experiments in public space, theatres and galleries. Since 2004, she has collaborated in multidisciplinary projects locally and internationally. Her solo works have been invited to festivals/platforms/symposia in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa since 2010. She has collaborated closely with choreographers Geumhyung Jeong (Zürcher Theaterspektakel/Monsoon, Critical Path Australia/Rockbund Shanghai), Natsuko Tezuka (Saison Foundation, Kyoto Experiment), Zwoisy Mears-Clarke (Theaterformen, Goethe Coproduction Fund) and Eisa Jocson (Mousonturm Frankfurt/ongoing). Venuri conceived and curated the programmes of Colombo Dance Platform from 2015-2020 (Goethe-Institut Colombo). She is a founding member of the independent artist collective The Packet and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Visual and Performing Arts, Sri Lanka. Attempting to create conditions for compassion and healing in her life and work, failing and learning, she remains curiously optimistic. A graduate of Das Theatre ‘21, she is currently based in Amsterdam.

language English/ entry is free

Register at playground@annakonjetzky.com