Transmission in Motion

Our upcoming TiM Seminar Session: “A Neurodiverse Fabulation: Techniques for Neurodiverse Futurities” will welcome shy*play, a collective co-initiated by Aion Arribas and antje nestel.

Date: Tuesday 9 June 2026
Time: 17:15-19:00
Location: Grote Zaal, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/KhHYzGnLRtLGtJRH6

Guided by the question “What can neurodiversity do?”, the collective shy*play (Aion Arribas and antje nestel) will story their art and pedagogical practice of Doing Neurodiversity. Aion and antje will tell one of the many stories that make up the ever-evolving world of shy*play, foregrounding its urgency, emergence, desires, and techniques of improvisation. These techniques are crafted to shift the conditions of participation away from neurotypicality and towards the creation of neurodiverse socialities together-in-difference. The presentation will be storied through a combination of autoethnography, philosophy, poetry, projected photos, video and the various materials that will perform in the space, among other fabrics that shy*play will bring in. A story for shy*play can never be told without also exploring and emphasizing the rich interrelationships of human and more-than-human at all times.

Find out more about the seminar and speakers on our event page: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/neurodiverse-fabulation/

If you would like to attend, please register via this link: https://forms.gle/KhHYzGnLRtLGtJRH6

Our upcoming TiM Seminar Session: “Griefbots in Research and on the Stage” will welcome Ulrike Quade (Ulrike Quade Company), Sorcha Ní Bhraonáin (Ulrike Quade Company), and Evelyn Wan (Utrecht University).

Date: Wednesday 20 May 2026
Time: 15:30-17:00
Location: Grote Zaal, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/rSqWBe9zxh5KS3va8

What remains of a person after death? And what happens when technology becomes a means to fill that void?
The theatre performance Roman & ELIZA by Ulrike Quade Company is about technology as a tool for grief, and relationships between humans and griefbots. The performance is inspired by the world’s first chatbot, ELIZA, and the true story of Roman Mazurenko. After Roman’s death, his partner Charly uploads messages and photos to ELIZA, resurrecting Roman’s digital presence. What follows is a charged interplay between a grieving lover and Roman’s shadow, trapped in a data center.

Find out more about the seminar and the speakers on our event page: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/technology-as-a-tool-for-grief/

Join us in this upcoming Meet the Makers conversation with Samah Hijawi.

Date: Monday 18 May 2026
Time: 11:00-13:00
Location: Grote Zaal, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/CaoDmK9NjCrvyAQ1A

In this conversation, multi-media artist, astrologer and dramaturg Samah Hijawi will talk about two of the projects she has been working on: SHRINE, and Aesthetics of the Political. SHRINE is an immersive performance about grief, rage, and radical resistance presented at the Spring Festival 2026. Aesthetics of the Political is an on-going research on critical languages and forms of resistance in artistic works related to traces of colonialities in art-making.

For more information visit our website: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/meet-the-makers-samah-hijawi/

Meet the Makers is a series by The Creative Humanities Academy, a platform that fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange between cultural and creative professionals and academic researchers and students.

Save the date and join us in this Meet the Makers conversation with Eloise Pasmore O’Pray!

Date: Thursday 21 May 2026
Time: 16:30-18:00
Location: Grote Zaal, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/zJCtamz5H4uJ9Jfs9

In this Meet the Makers event, Eloise Pasmore O’Pray will present the story of how a unique research collection formed and travelled from Britain to the Netherlands. We will learn about the obstacles that arise when trying to catalogue and make accessible a research collection and AI’s role in finding solutions. Physical objects, specifically those that hold visual and audible memories and experiences, will be discussed in relation to AI, which is often mainly thought of within its own world of digital technology (computers and smart phones) rather than analogue material. But here we will look at AI through an archival lens that connects the analogue to the digital world

For more information, head over to our webpage: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/meet-the-makers-eloise-pasmore-opray/

If you would like to attend, please register via this link: https://forms.gle/zJCtamz5H4uJ9Jfs9

Meet the Makers is a series by The Creative Humanities Academy, a platform that fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange between cultural and creative professionals and academic researchers and students.

This event is funded by the Special Interest Group (SIG) AI in Cultural Inquiry and Art, which is part of the HAI (Human-centered Artificial Intelligence) Research Focus Area.

Join us in this Meet the Makers conversation with Ren Loren Britton!

Date: Thursday 07 May, 2026
Time: 17:00-19:00
Location: Alex Brenninkmeijerzaal in Johanna Hudiggebouw, Achter Sint Pieter 200, 3512 HT Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/s4ndTERHa2VJvYxZ6

In this talk Ren will share their ongoing artistic indexing project called “Indexing for Disability Justice.” They will share an essay they are writing that works on tracing agency, via a few stories and hir-stories from the index. These artifacts speak of technical trans*crip pasts that enable other interdependencies and priorities for community connection and technical making today. They will speak about their practice as a research based artist-designer and speak about the politics and practices that make their work and worlding possible.

For more information, head over to our webpage: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/meet-the-makers-ren-loren-britton/
If you would like to attend, please register via this link: https://forms.gle/s4ndTERHa2VJvYxZ6

Meet the Makers is a series by The Creative Humanities Academy, a platform that fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange between cultural and creative professionals and academic researchers and students.

This event is supported by the Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies (NOG), a platform for gender sensitive and postcolonial research.

Our upcoming TiM Seminar Session: “From As If to What If: Simulation and Speculation in Contemporary Dramaturgy” will welcome Liesbeth Groot Nibbelink (Utrecht University) and Sigrid Merx (Utrecht University)

Date: 15 April 2026
Time: 15:00-17:00
Location: Grote Zaal, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/PH9MSp3XrEkaHMqc8

In this session, Liesbeth Groot Nibbelink (UU) and Sigrid Merx (UU) will discuss their book project Simulation, Speculation and Futurity in Contemporary Dramaturgy: From ‘As If’ to ‘What If’ in European Performance Practice (forthcoming). The project originated from the observation of a growing interest in fictionality, simulation, and speculation in contemporary European theatre and performance. An increasing number of theatre events and performative installations mobilize the imaginary to engage with the world at large. In doing so, they depart quite radically from the emphasis on “the real” that characterized postdramatic theatre and performance art in previous decades. At the same time, they challenge the historically close association between fiction and the “not real.” Remarkably, these fictional worlds are often not staged within conventional theatre venues. Instead, they emerge in other contexts, taking on the appearance of spaces such as concept stores, courts of justice, online dating platforms, or historical museums.

Using their book project as a companion, Liesbeth and Sigrid invite the audience to join them in exploring a series of interconnected entanglements. They will reflect on as if and what if thinking as twin inclinations of theatre; on the intimate relationship between fiction and reality in contemporary dramaturgy; on the practice of navigating concepts across disciplines; and on the process of writing this book together.

Find out more about the seminar on our event page: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/from-as-if-to-what-if/
If you would like to attend, please register via this link: https://forms.gle/PH9MSp3XrEkaHMqc8

Meet the Makers: Jessica Sligter in conversation with Ed Katrak Spencer (Utrecht University)

Date: Thursday 26 March 2026
Time: 15:00-16:30
Location: Foyer, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/JVong6cPTvkYgRix6

What, exactly, do we think of when we hear the term ‘experimental’ in relation to music? This Meet the Makers Conversation features Jessica Sligter, an experimental musician and composer who works at the interface of different genres and disciplines via the materials of voice, electronics, space, text, and concept. In conversation with Ed Katrak Spencer (UU) Jessica will discuss her international career and her recent work “For A Closer Walk,” which experiments with the shapenote singing traditions of Hoboken, Georgia.

For more information, head over to our webpage: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/meet-the-makers-jessica-sligter/
If you would like to attend, please register via this link: https://forms.gle/JVong6cPTvkYgRix6

TiM Seminar Session: “Humor, Truth Telling, and Situated Knowledges” — Dick Zijp (Utrecht University)

Date: Wednesday 25 March 2026
Time: 15:15-17:15
Location: Grote Zaal, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
RSVP: https://forms.gle/Vfg59D7WSkAnk37d6

While comedians are often described as “truth-tellers,” the relationship between comedy and truth-telling is typically taken for granted. But what do we mean when we say that comedians “speak truth”? How can comedic speech be truthful?
In this seminar, Dick Zijp will draw on recent work in critical comedy studies and Donna Haraway’s notion of “situated knowledges” to argue for a conception of truth-telling that attends to the sociocultural embeddedness of the comedian. Using case studies of Theo Maassen and Dave Chappelle, Dick will examine how comedians navigate speaking truth through comedy.

For more information head over to our website: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/humor-and-truth-telling-dick-zijp/

We are happy to announce our next Meet the Makers event with Ira Brand!

Date: 20th February, 2026
Time: 15:30-17:00
Location: Muntstraat 2A, Grote Zaal
RSVP: https://forms.gle/h9mY2RTFjwNvWYqu9

In this Meet the Makers conversation, Ira Brand will discuss her experience in making live, inter-disciplinary performances: from solo stage shows to one-to-one pieces, from duets to participatory work. Her process is one of using personal starting points to speak to wider social, political, and formal concerns. In recent years Ira has been exploring power, and how it is felt and enacted – specifically looking at the relationships between power, language, gender and desire. Works she has made in pursuit of this curiosity include: Break Yourself (2016), a performance in male drag that layers multiple, slippery identities on top of each other; Ways To Submit (2019), a work about dominance and submission in which Ira invites the audience to have a physical fight with her; like the party has been cancelled (2022), a show about control – and the desire to lose it – that uses a live collaging practice spilling from the page into the room; and Commitment Phobe (2023), a work about doubt in which a chain reaction machine is constructed live on stage.

For more information about the event and Ira's work, head over to the event page: https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/meet-the-makers-ira-brand/

Our upcoming seminar “Culture for Democracy, Democracy for Culture” will welcome Lars Ebert (Secretary General of Culture Action Europe) who will discuss the concept of cultural democracy and the democratization of culture.

Date: 18 February 2026
Time: 15:15 - 17:15
Location: Grote Zaal, Muntstraat 2A, 3512EV Utrecht
Register trough this link https://forms.gle/ukPugo4D5LQVrzeF7

In an era of profound social, economic, and environmental challenges, cultural leadership through cultural democracy offers a critical pathway toward building resilient, inclusive societies. The transformative role of socially engaged arts fosters democratic agency, bridging ideological divides, and amplifying marginalized voices. The democratization of culture requires rethinking the frameworks that define cultural value, encouraging active participation, and expanding cultural leadership to be more representative of diverse communities. Socially engaged practitioners have demonstrated how cultural practices can address social inequality, foster inclusion, and enhance community resilience—yet they remain vulnerable to external pressures and institutional challenges.

Find out more about the seminar, recommended readings, and Lars Ebert on our event page https://transmissioninmotion.sites.uu.nl/title-to-be-announced-lars-ebert-culture-action-europe/