Andrea Saemann – How to hold on to performance art

Please join us for a performance lecture by Swiss artist Andrea Saemann.

Andrea was in residence at LADA in October 2019 looking at documentation and archives and the relation of contemporary performance artists with their remnants or artworks outside of the live moment itself. Having conducted around twenty interviews with performance artists, photographers and curators Andrea returns to London in February for the second phase of her residency and will present her initial findings on her research on the relation and interaction of performance and photography. Andrea’s residency is part of LADA’s collaboration with Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council on a three-year initiative to raise the profile of Swiss Live Art in the UK and contribute to the development of exchanges and collaborations between artists and promoters in the UK and Switzerland. Andrea is also working with Madeleine Amsler on a LADA Study Room Guide on Swiss Live Art to be published in late 2020. Andrea Saemann is a performance artist, curator, networker, working within movements and platforms initiated by artists themselves. 1997-2000 she was part of the artist run space called «Kaskadenkondensator» in Basel. 2002-2012 she developed a tool to activate performance art histories with a project called Performance Saga – interviews, performances, events, relating to the women pioneers of performance art. From 2011 – 2017 she coordinated the Swiss Performance Art Award. In 2014 she cofounded the association PANCH, a professional network for performance artists. Since 2014 she curates annually the International Performance Art Giswil, a performance art festival in the middle of the Swiss mountains.