ARTISTS

Each year, Live Action invites twelve artists whose practices together define the artistic identity of the festival. The number is not symbolic but curatorial: four performances each evening over three days create a rhythm that allows every artist to receive the attention they deserve while offering audiences a rich yet balanced programme.

Live Action 21 brings together twelve artists from around the world, representing a broad spectrum of contemporary performance art conceived as a visual and conceptual art practice. Their works range from sculptural and conceptual actions to ritual, body-based interventions, participatory works and poetic investigations of everyday life. Together, they reflect the diversity of performance art today while sharing a commitment to artistic integrity, conceptual depth and the transformative potential of the live encounter.

This year’s programme features Elias Björn (Sweden), Maurice Blok (the Netherlands/Finland), John Court (United Kingdom/Finland), Danny Devos (Belgium), Nathalie S. Fari (Brazil/Sweden), Paula Fitzsimons (Ireland), Laurence Gravel (Canada), Sachiko Hayashi (Japan/Sweden), Magnús Logi Kristinsson (Iceland/Finland), Nigel Rolfe (Ireland), Lorin Sookool (South Africa) and Pitchapa Wangprasertkul (Thailand).

Continuing last year’s Live Action Xchange pilot project, Live Action 21 expands its international curatorial collaboration by inviting the artistic directors of three partner festivals to select an artist from their respective countries and regions. Laurence Gravel was selected by STVN Girard, Artistic Director of the Rencontre internationale d’art performance in Québec; Lorin Sookool by Nomusa Makhubu, Artistic Director of ICA Live Art in Cape Town; and Pitchapa Wangprasertkul by Jon Tangpaiboon, Artistic Director of the Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival in Bangkok.

Each artist brings a distinctive artistic language, yet together they embody the open, experimental and critically engaged spirit that has defined Live Action since its inception.