BIO

Born in Israel, living in Europe.
During the past 13 years Adva Zakai has been exploring various performance formats where she has acted as choreographer, performer or curator.
During 2010 she obtained an artistic research grant, in the framework of the post master program a.pass in Antwerp, in which she researched the influence of a curatorial approach on the development of new performance formats.
During the same year she conducted the curatorial project d o m i n o k i n g d o m
(in collaboration with architect Miriam Rohde) in Brussels.
She pursued dance education in Israel followed by studies at the Mime School, Amsterdam (2000 – 2002). In recent years, she has been collaborating with other artists on curating participative events and festivals, as well as leading workshops and attending studio visits in art schools and dance academies.

Artists in residence in the frame of THEMATICS: “Author / Authority”

FRAME OF RESEARCH: 

“A room of everyone’s own / ideas for a series of Living-room events”

If your private space would become public for a day – what kind of experience would you like to share with people in it? Once you invite public into your living-room, will your authority over your own house be challenged? How much freedom would one allow oneself to take in determining the situation in someone else’s ‘teritory’ and the use of it? In which way would it be different to behavior of public in the ‘official’ public spaces, which belong to no one, and yet represent the authorities? To which extend the designated public spaces belong to all people?

These questions will be a starting point for interviews that will be concluded in a series of events in people’s living-rooms. Through addressing the notions of privacy and authority, I hope to develop a dialogue with people that will touch upon the relation between people and the space in which they live, between people and other people and between spaces and other spaces.
I imagine a ‘sitcom like’ experience, without a plot and without a television. Maybe a drama series, which is a portrait of a neighborhood, where one would need to go visit their neighbors in order to follow the episodes, instead of turning the TV on. Each chapter is a live performance, but there are no characters, no one is acting a roll and there is no story line to follow.   Yet, along the different events, recurrent elements develop into possible narratives and a network of relations is revealed. The authorship over this project might be clear, but the authority will shift constantly between the artist, the participants who host the events and the public who visits.

This project is a year long process divided into phases of exploration. In the frame of the residency in Bains Connective, the actual interview process will be reflected upon and practiced in the form of a workshop, pilot interviews and reading sessions.
© image: still from Rabbits, A sitcom by David Lynch. 2002